WHEN OAK TREES

GIVE US ACORNS STORY, PHOTOS, AND RECIPES BY SARA CALVOSA OLSON

Black oak acorns with some traditional tools for gathering and priocessing: Miwok baskets and mortar and pestle

20 winter 2019-2020 EDIBLE SHASTA-BUTTE edibleshastabutte.com n Karuk culture, the shorter, darker days usher in storytelling season, an opportunity to recommit to Istewardship practices by teaching the next generation about how the world was made, and how they are meant to care for it—as a relative. Children might learn stories about the Acorn Maidens as Ikxaréeyavs (spirit people); one tells how they each made their hats special as they prepared to meet The People. This story teaches children about the different types of oaks and how to identify which acorns are preferable. Storytelling was more than just a way to pass the time, it was a way to share knowledge. In some instances, stories are also cautionary tales. A tribe may have over-hunted a meat source and realized their mistake the next year, having to subsist on acorns and roots until the game populations could recuperate. They developed stories to pass down from generation to generation for thousands of years to warn future descendants about the consequences of taking too much. Indigenous peoples were undoubtedly the first observational scientists, increasing their knowledge of the world around them—because what is a scientist if not a keen observer of the world over a period of time? In this case, vast periods of time. And the data collected was turned into stories, told every year at a certain time, with rules and taboos, medicine stories that are as alive as we are. I remembered the story of the acorn maidens a few years ago and realized that I’d been remiss in not connecting my The whole family helps out with acorn processing own children to this traditional data and set out to correct my negligence. Fast-forward to today and we are top to bottom acorns, maple , salmon, eels, mussels, venison, and I’m Because of the pervasiveness of government owned pretty sure we’re just one weird day away from trapping wood traditional lands, technically you can gather wherever you rats for snacks. I have had some incredible conversations with want, but I’d rather you make the effort to find out which my sons about settler-colonialism and the effects of being places to avoid. In Karuk country, you just have to ask the violently disconnected from the land. I watch their eagerness tribe, and they’ll tell you don’t gather willow down at this to learn Karuk ways grow like rising loaves of acorn , river bar, or don’t go up that slope for mushrooms, or down ideas and understanding percolating like acorn soup, boiling that slope for hazel if you can avoid it. If you are in an area with red hot basalt rocks. I know that someday they will where you do not have access to tribal information, please make great fix-the-world-people and carry on in service of our email me ([email protected]) and I’ll help. Yôotva! plant and animal relatives. But in the meantime, they have a lot of acorns to crack. ACORN PROCESSING 101 A note for non-Native allies: The information that I’m sharing with you is to help you learn to access the rhythm The winter is pretty much prime time for acorn soup. What of your natural environment and to better understand the is more cozy than a fire, in a cozy nook, with some soup? people and the history of the land that you live on. Please But first you have to learn how to make acorns edible, do not gather in public places or parks without consulting because they are so rich in bitter tannins that they must be your local tribe. Even if it’s a place that you have always had soaked until all of the tannins are leached out. There are as access to, many tribes operate environmental programs that many ways to leach acorns as there are tribes that eat acorns. are like tribal Environmental Protection Agencies, and they The Karuk would dry the acorns for a year, crack the shells are constantly compiling information and observations about with rocks, pound them into meal, put the meal in the their traditional lands. They may have information that is center of a pile of river sand, and leach them with water, important or useful. They may also ask you to avoid certain letting the tannins drain into the sand. I use a Vitamix, areas that are reserved for traditional gathering. It’s important, some cheesecloth, and glass jars with lids. “Adaptability is a as an ally, to center Native knowledge. cornerstone of Native ingenuity” is what I always say. edibleshastabutte.com EDIBLE SHASTA-BUTTE winter 2019-2020 21 A chestnut knife (in photo at left) is the perfect tool for acorn hulls. Dropping the peeled meats into water reduces browing.

STEP 1 Get a bunch of acorns. But make sure they’re fertilized acorns. If the acorns are very small, and you can squeeze them firmly and the shell gives way, that means there’s no nut inside. You can also take a knife and cut one open, but the squeeze test works pretty well. You can gather acorns in the fall or the spring. Spring acorns are cool because most of the tannins have been turned to sugar to feed the sprouting acorn. You’ll also want to tune in to the rhythm of your oaks. Are they dropping more acorns one year and less so another? That’s a normal oak cycle. And once you access that rhythm you’ll be able to prepare for those years. You’ll also notice that the first acorns to fall are usually the buggy ones that are heavy with moth larvae. It’s best to gather them up for the burn pile, to reduce infestation for the next year. There will be a second drop of acorns, and those are the ones you want to gather. Any acorn can be made edible with the right amount of leaching; some just take longer than others. Now that you have a bunch of acorns . . .

STEP 2 Sort out the buggy ones. Throw out any acorns that have a bore hole/holes: They’re carrying moth grubs. If you want you can eat the grubs, but I’m not that NDN. #britneyspears.gif You can also pour all of your acorns into a tub of water and throw out the floaters. Just be sure to lay the acorns out to dry thoroughly, otherwise the moisture will encourage mildew. If you’d like to jumpstart the drying process, put them in an on the lowest setting with the oven door propped open with a wooden spoon. Once they’re dried (you’re going to have to judge this for yourself—keep an eye on them), you can put them in a basket and let them sit until you want to use them, or you can start cracking and cleaning them for leaching.

22 winter 2019-2020 EDIBLE SHASTA-BUTTE edibleshastabutte.com Opposite: a spoonful of blenderized acorn meat. Above (left): Cheesecloth is essential for straining out tannic water from the acorn meal. Above (right): Drying the meal completely after leaching will yield that can be used right away or stored for later use.

STEP 3 growing on those areas that aren’t covered in water. I pour off once a day but you can do as many times as you are able. Cracking and cleaning is the time I like to really think about After a few days, your tannins will fade and you’ll want to how important this staple food was to our ancestors. The taste the meal. It should smell like almond milk, and it may sound of acorns being cracked every morning, echoing up taste good for a second but then those bitter tannins will kick and down the river, would have been something to behold. in. Just keep leaching, and eventually you’ll just have a soft I use a little machine to crack the acorns one at a time. I nutty, earthy flavor. know industrial-sized grinders exist, but I like to inspect every individual acorn and make sure all of the red testa is removed. I’m sure this will get old and eventually I’ll upgrade, but right STEP 5 now I use my cracker and a chestnut knife, and they work Now the tannins are all leached out, line a bowl with for me. You can also use a hammer and a blanket to crack the cheesecloth and pour the contents of your jar into the bowl. acorns (put the acorns under the blanket), and clean them Pull up the sides of the cheesecloth, and strain the acorn milk with a paring knife. A walnut pick isn’t a thin enough utensil out of the meal into a ball. You can drink acorn milk, put it to be effective. Often after drying, the red testa will come off in your coffee, mix it with some roasted pepper nut powder with some rubbing and you don’t need to clean up as much; for cocoa, it’s delicious but very perishable. Once you have a the acorn will feel kind of rubbery. strained ball of meal you have some options. As I’m cracking, I throw the nuts into a jar half full of You can dry it up to rehydrate at another time (this is how water to keep them from darkening. you make flour), or you can make soup with it immediately, or you can freeze the meal and decide another time. STEP 4 If you have a dehydrator with fruit roll silicone donuts, you can use it to dry out the meal, and when it’s completely Once you have a blender sized jar of peeled acorns and water, dry, put it in the blender or a spice grinder and blitz it until put them in your blender and grind them into a milkshake. it’s fine flour. 1 The finer the grind, the easier it is to leach, I’ve found. Pour your blender of acorn milkshake into a jar, cover the top of the jar with cheesecloth, and put it in the refrigerator. Once Sara Calvosa Olson is a Karuk writer living with her soulmate, raising two large teenage sons. She has a regular column in News From Native California that the meal settles to the bottom you’ll start to see dark tannin explores California Indian foodways and reconnection to traditional Indigenous water at the top. ingredients. Chími nu’am! (Let’s eat!) Pour off the tannin water through the cheesecloth to keep your good and meal inside the jar, then refill with cold water, stir or shake it up, and put it back in the fridge. Sometimes I rinse out the cheesecloth and put it back on and/or wipe around the inside of the jar to keep mold from Turn the page for recipes using acorn flour. edibleshastabutte.com EDIBLE SHASTA-BUTTE winter 2019-2020 23 Cooking with Acorns I’m passing along some recipes using a couple of traditional Indigenous ingredients mixed with contemporary ingredients. Food is an excellent way to connect to your natural environment. A good way to start is by choosing one ingredient and learning as much as you can about it. If you’re Native, ask your elders about their favorite ways to prepare these traditional foods; it can be so surprising! One of mine said, “Oh, a lot of us older people still like to dig a píshi (pan) hole near a stream,” where they let the acorns ferment as the stream naturally leaches out the tannins. If you’re non-Native, study the history of that ingredient, as it was used by the people whose land you are residing on. The more you learn about how labor intensive these incredible Native superfoods are, the more you understand how deeply connected the people were to their traditional lands.

24 winter 2019-2020 EDIBLE SHASTA-BUTTE edibleshastabutte.com Note: Sometimes venison can have a gamey flavor depending on where and when you get your deer meat. If you’d like to soften that gaminess you can brine it overnight in a saltwater brine of ¼ cup salt to 1 gallon of water with bay leaves, juniper berries, Douglas fir tips, herbs, peppercorns, whatever you want, it’s up to you. I didn’t brine this time because my deer was sweet and lived a life of eating what, I can only surmise, must have been a field of donuts.

Serves 4–6

2 pounds deer meat (shanks, or cubed shoulder work the best DEER MEAT STEW WITH VEGETABLES for long braising or pressure cooking) 2 tablespoons oil In this púufich (deer/deer meat) stew I used deer meat from the foothills of the Sierra Nevada, in Maidu territory. More specifically 1 onion near where the Yauko settlement may have been located, 3 carrots( according to an old map in the CSU Chico digital library. Some 3 celery ribs California tribes traditionally cooked deer meat inside an acorn 2–3 cloves of garlic soup, thickened with acorn flour and nutmeats. In a contemporary twist, use the acorn flour to dredge the venison and it will make ½ cup acorn flour what is essentially a roux that will thicken up the stew like acorn 32 ounces stock (I used vegetable, but beef would work as well) gravy. This recipe can be cooked using a pressure cooker, braised 8 small red potatoes in an oven, or outside in a Dutch oven. 8 crimini mushrooms 2–3 tablespoons chopped parsley 3 dried bay leaves (or 1 fresh bay laurel leaf) Salt and pepper Heat oven to 300° if braising in the oven. (If using a pressure cooker, skip this step.) In a food processor, finely chop ½ the onion, 2 carrots, 2 celery, and garlic. Put cubed venison or shanks into a bowl. Add salt and pepper and acorn flour. Toss your shanks/stew meat in the flour until well coated. Heat oil in large dutch oven or pressure cooker over medium heat, brown your meat very well on all sides, remove meat from the pot and set aside. Add your finely processed vegetables to the pot, add salt to taste, and stir, scraping up any brown bits. Add some vegetable stock to deglaze the bottom, scraping up any bits, then add the meat back to the pot, with bay leaves. Add stock to cover 2 inches over the meat. You can add more if you’re braising in the oven, the liquid evaporates and makes a nice thick stew. Cover and put in the oven for 2 to 3 hours until meat is falling off the bone (if using shanks) or easily pulls apart (if using stew meat). Keep an eye on it and add a cup of stock at a time if it’s evaporating too fast. Leave the lid off for the last half hour. Slice remaining carrot, celery, and onion as well as potatoes and mushrooms. Add potatoes first, cooking until just done. Then add the rest of the vegetables and cook for a few minutes (you don’t want them to get mushy). Ladle into bowls, and serve with buttered slices of Acorn Baguette (recipe on next page) The butter melts into the stew, and it’s perfect.

edibleshastabutte.com EDIBLE SHASTA-BUTTE winter 2019-2020 25 ACORN BAGUETTE Yield: 2 baguettes

2 cups all-purpose flour (can substitute bread flour, French flour, or about 2 minutes of light folding until it becomes a little easier to Italian flour) handle. It’s a very sticky . Fold it into a ball, and divide into 2 1 cup acorn flour parts, reforming each half into a ball again. Lightly roll and pull the dough with floured hands into a rough 2 teaspoons instant baguette shape. Do the same with the second ball. Carefully lift 1½ teaspoons salt your baguettes onto the parchment, cover with plastic wrap or a kitchen towel and let sit for another hour. 1½–2 cups warm water (slightly warmer than room temperature) After 50 minutes, preheat oven to 450°. Start by making a poolish, a bakers’ term for a fairly wet sponge. In Fill an oven safe dish halfway with water to create some steam a glass bowl, mix dry ingredients thoroughly. Add water and use to give the baguette a nice crust. the handle of a wooden spoon to cut through the dough, stirring Using kitchen scissors or a bread , cut the top of the it up until it’s the consistency of sticky porridge. baguette every few inches. If using scissors, tuck the corners down Cover your bowl with plastic wrap and set in a safe place so they’re not sharp when they bake. to proof overnight or up to 12 hours. (I use my microwave as a Bake for 25 to 30 minutes. Remove from oven and cool proofing drawer. Just don’t turn it on.) completely on wire rack. Before , place a piece of parchment on a tray. To make : Cut baguette into ½-inch wide slices, drizzle Using a bread or , scoop the sticky dough onto with olive oil and sea salt, and in the oven at 450° for a few a heavily floured surface. Making sure your hands are also floured, minutes until golden, then flip and cook the other side for a few move the dough around, folding it just until it comes together, minutes and serve with soup.

26 winter 2019-2020 EDIBLE SHASTA-BUTTE edibleshastabutte.com BUTTERMILK CHOCOLATE ACORN TEA BREAD This is basically a giant brownie loaf, but the acorn adds a little something nuttier. It’s such a simple quick bread dessert. You can dress it up with nuts or raspberries or a light dusting of powdered sugar. You can also throw in some candy cane pieces for holidays, wrap it in parchment, and give it to your neighbors. Yield: 1 loaf

½ cup butter, softened Preheat oven to 325°. 1 cup packed light brown sugar Grease and flour a bread pan, using cocoa in place of flour. In a large bowl, cream butter and together until fluffy. ½ cup maple sugar or granulated sugar Add egg, mix well, then add buttermilk and vanilla (the at 1 egg this point might look a little curdled but it’s ok). Sift in , cocoa, baking soda, , and salt and 1 cup buttermilk stir until just combined. Sifting is important because cocoa tends 1 teaspoon vanilla extract to be a little clumpy and you want to keep the batter smooth. ¾ cup bread flour Pour batter into coated bread pan, and bake in oven for approximately 1 hour, until toothpick inserted comes out clean. ¾ cup acorn flour (I used a darker valley oak acorn flour as Cool before inverting and removing from bread pan. opposed to the lighter white oak flour for this one) ¾ cup cocoa powder ½ teaspoon baking soda ¾ teaspoon baking powder ¼ teaspoon salt

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