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 |
No comments:
Post a Comment