Winemaking topic: Have acorns ever been used in winemaking?
Posted: Wed Aug 09, 2006 12:36 pm
Here's one for the winemakers among us, and anyone else who might follow those topics.
Of course, most use of oak centers on the use of either barrels or oak chips or shavings to impart desirable flavours and tannins to the wines - in good measure, of course. How about acorns, which are essentially oak nuts? Acorns from Quercus alba are similarly tannic and have a nice, mild flavour ... Has anyone ever heard of the inner nuts being ground up and added to homemade wines?
There are lots of resources online for people wishing to make culinary use of oak nuts; mainly the use seems to center on grounding them for flour and leaching the tannins out to make the flour less astringent/bitter. How about leveraging the tannin content of acorns in one's homemade wine?
I might try this with a small, separate batch of my red this year just to see what happens.
Of course, most use of oak centers on the use of either barrels or oak chips or shavings to impart desirable flavours and tannins to the wines - in good measure, of course. How about acorns, which are essentially oak nuts? Acorns from Quercus alba are similarly tannic and have a nice, mild flavour ... Has anyone ever heard of the inner nuts being ground up and added to homemade wines?
There are lots of resources online for people wishing to make culinary use of oak nuts; mainly the use seems to center on grounding them for flour and leaching the tannins out to make the flour less astringent/bitter. How about leveraging the tannin content of acorns in one's homemade wine?
I might try this with a small, separate batch of my red this year just to see what happens.