USE OF ACORNS

The California Indians had over 25 species of oak. They used the acorns for a delicious mush soup, they used the bark and wood as well. Acorns were a staple to most California Indian tribes. By letting the acorn mush sit out for a day or so there is a mold that grows on the top of the soup that is an antibiotic that is used similar to our penicillin. The tannin in the acorn as well as oak bark was used to treat bladder infections and dizziness.

The men were in charge of beating the acorns down from the trees. Some were stored in tightly woven baskets for the next year - as unshelled. Before using any acorns they had to be dried for several days. Their shells were craked by pounding them with a handstone on a grinding stone. Then the nut was ground by a pestle and mortar and it became a flour. the flour had to be leached of tannic acid in order to be edible. the meal was placed into a meter long small basin of sand by a river or creek. Water was poured over the meal so as to leach out the tannic acid. The flour was placed into a tightly woven basket that was heated by hot stones from a fire. this resulted in acorn soup. The meal could also be made into a bread and cooked in an underground oven.

Native Americans believed that oak trees had a spirit and celebrated Big Times around the end of fall by inviting neighboring tribes into their villages and having a large gathering for food sharing, dancing, and celebrating the fertility of the land.

Oaks represent fertility, strength, and success. Obviously these trees attract many artistic people to our California landscape.