Native American - Acorns (part 2 of 4)

This is a continuation of what I have learned about acorn preparation.  See part one for more details on the references.

Image credit: Bella Vista Ranch, "Bedrock Mortars for Grinding Acorns"

Acorn (Quercus sp.)

Part 2:  Preparation - Pounding 

To be used, the acorn must be cracked and shelled.  Much of the description that follows is how the Yosemite Miwok/Paiute Indians prepared acorn, as found in Beverly Ortiz’s detailed book, It Will Live Forever.

One by one, each acorn is held between the thumb and the index finger with its pointy end stabilized against a flat, rough stone.  The stone provides a firm foundation for cracking, while its rough surface provides a place to secure the pointed end.

The flat end of the acorn, which was once attached to the oak tree, is then struck with the end of a small, elongated rock (hammerstone) to crack its shell.  (Ortiz, 49)

The acorn was cracked by tapping it gently two or three times, using a light, downward pressure.  When the shell split, a quiet popping sound was heard.  The shell was removed and the kernel was inspected for mold, mildew, or insect damage.  If any was found, the kernel was “returned to the earth” if extensive, or cut away if minimal.  Small black spots, possibly from incomplete drying, were accepted, but completely black kernels were not.  (Ortiz, 49-51)

The kernels have a skin that is rust-colored and bitter, and must be removed completely.  Some oak species have acorns with several grooves in the kernel, making it harder to remove the skin.  These grooves were opened with a knife.  Often the kernels were rubbed together by hand and rolled against the basket to help loosen the skins.  Then they were tossed into the air from a basket to allow the skins to blow away on the breeze.  Any kernels with stubborn skins were put back out to dry and then winnowed again. (Ortiz, 53-58)

The pounding process had specific techniques.  Some people used hoppers, bottomless baskets that were glued to a rock mortar to help contain the acorns as they were crushed.  Others pounded in shallow depressions in the rock, piling up the powdered acorn as a cushion between the pounding stone and the mortar.  The rocks used to crush the acorn were either “one-handed” or “two-handed”, depending on their length (6 to 12 inches) and weight (four to fourteen pounds).  (Ortiz, 66-68)

Beginners need about six handfuls of whole, freshly winnowed nuts to start.  A palm-sized, one-hand pestle is balanced upright in the mortar depression (even a slight, natural depression on a bedrock will do) so it stands by itself, then one handful of nuts placed around it.  Grasped by the right hand, the pestle is lifted, causing the nuts to fall into the depression.  They’re now in place to be crushed with several light, downward blows of the pestle.

These light blows are designed to prevent the nuts from bouncing around the mortar.  Once mashed, another handful of nuts is added and gently crushed using the same technique, although this time the pestle is balanced inside a small, bowl-shaped pile of crushed nutmeats.  The process is repeated until four handfuls of winnowed nuts are well crushed.  (Ortiz, 68-69)

Once a quantity of acorn meal had been produced, it was used as a cushion between the mortar and pestle, keeping the rocks from striking each other and producing unwanted grit.  Adding more nutmeats to that pile gave several benefits:  one is that the meal kept the nuts from bouncing around while being pounded; the other is that the nuts kept the natural oil in the meal from making it pasty.  “Whole kernels absorb the oil, preventing stickiness.  … If it is too sticky, the acorn flour will form little, beaded clumps during sifting, and it will not dissolve in water at leaching time.” (Ortiz, 69-70)

This process was repeated until the amount of acorn meal desired was created.  The next step was sifting the meal to insure its evenness. “You don’t want to have coarse and fine.  You want to have fine flour.  That’s the right way to make it.  … So fine it blows away with the wind.” (Ortiz, 85)  The coarse flour was either returned for more pounding or kept as a starter for the next day’s pounding. (Ortiz, 92-93)

Native American - Acorns (part 1 of 4)

I want to document what I have learned about the consumption of acorns in California.  This is a four-part series.

Image credit:  Dave's Garden, "Harvesting and Preparing Acorns"

Acorn (Quercus sp.)

Part 1:  The Gathering

Everyone ate acorn.  E. W. Gifford, “California Balanophagy” in R. F. Heizer and M. A. Whipple, eds., The California Indians - A Source Book, 2nd ed; rev. ed. (Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1971), 301.  Acorn was a staple food everywhere it was found in abundance and was replaced with piñon nuts or mesquite as a staple only in the desert regions where oak trees were scarce.  (Heizer and Whipple, 81)

Acorns contain tannin and phytic acid, both compounds that function as antinutrition, binding to minerals and interfering with the enzymes needed to digest food, thus preventing their absorption.  These phytochemicals make the acorns bitter and toxic. Some acorns contain more of the compounds than others but all need to be leached to make them edible and safe when consumed in quantity or with any regularity.  California Indians processed their acorns and in doing so, “obtained as much as 50% of their yearly calories from acorns, without experiencing harm” and showing “acorns can be part of a healthful, nutrient-dense diet, - but not in their raw form.” Arthur Haines,  "Do Sweet Acorns Still Need To Be Leached?", Bulletin of Primitive Technology, 47 (Spring 2014), 74-75.

The method of processing varied depending on the region, but many of the steps were similar.  The general approach was to:  dry the acorn, remove the hull, pound the kernel to a powder, use water to remove the toxins, cook, and eat. 

Leaching was the technique of choice for the majority of the people. (Heizer and Whipple, 302)  But before leaching could occur, other steps needed to be performed. 

When the leaves turn yellow, …, it’s acorn gathering time.  Acorns fall from the trees twice each season.  The first fall consists of unhealthy, worm- and insect-infested acorns, and it is left alone.

Winds bring the others down later, in late September or early October depending on the weather.  These good, healthy acorns are heavier than the others, a quality that is felt for as they are gathered off the ground.  Each acorn is also inspected by sight and felt for any bumps or holes.  The flawed acorns are left on the ground to return to the earth or be eaten by squirrels or birds.  Beverly R. Ortiz, It Will Live Forever: Traditional Yosemite Indian Acorn Preparation, as told by Julia F. Parker, 2nd ed. (Berkeley, CA: Heyday Books, 1996), 41.

The caps were removed and the gathered acorns were dried before storage or use.  (Miller, 87)  They were spread in single layers in the sun and checked regularly for insect damage.  Drying kept stored acorn from mildewing, hardened the shell to make it easier to crack open, and made it easier to pound the kernels into a powder.  Sometimes the drying was hastened by cracking the shell with a hammerstone or cutting it with a knife, if the acorn was to be eaten right away. (Ortiz, 45-47)

Created for long-term storage of dried acorns

Image credit:  

Handbook of Indians of California (1919), by A. L. Kroeber (1919)

An excellent source for a detailed description and photos is:

Miwok Material Culture: Indian Life of the Yosemite Region (1933)
by S. A. Barrett and E. W. Gifford

Be sure to click on the Plate links.