Book of Days Tales

On this date in 1911 Ishi, last surviving member of the Yahi, emerged from the mountains near Oroville in California where he had been living in seclusion from US culture all of his life.  Anthropologists estimated that he was about 50 at the time, and by then his parents and friends within the Yahi community had all died.  It is against Yahi custom to speak your personal name to strangers, you must be introduced by a fellow Yahi, and since remained he never spoke his name.  Instead Alfred Kroeber called him Ishi which means “man” in general Yana (the parent group for Yahi).  He worked with a number of scholars at UC Berkeley on aspects of Yahi culture for 5 years until his death from tuberculosis (which at the time was incurable).

The Yahi were foragers, eating collected plant materials and hunted (and fished) game.  Their overall expertise in food gathering was how they had survived hidden in the mountains for so long.  One of their staples was acorn flour which you can make yourself if you have the time.  You can use it for any recipe that calls for flour and it imparts a nutty taste with no gluten.  There are five steps:

1.  Gather your acorns.  If you live near woodlands with abundant oaks this part is simple (at the right time of year – early autumn).  Use a rake to collect the acorns in buckets.  You will need several gallons because much is waste.
2. Extract the acorn nut.  There is no shortcut for this part at home. Traditionally Native American peoples used two stones as they would to crack nuts.  It’s not a job I recommend doing indoors.  You can use a hammer in place of a striking stone, but you will need a flat hard surface as well, one that can take the pounding, and go at it.
3. Place the acorn nuts in a food processor and grind them to a fine powder.
4. Leach the flour of tannins.  This is a vital step because the tannins are toxic. It is also the step that takes the longest time.  There are various methods, but cold water leaching is general preferred.  Take a gallon glass jar, fill it halfway with acorn flour and top up with clean cold water.  Cap the jar and shake.  Then store in a cool place for a day (inverting the jar from time to time if you wish).  Next day, strain off the water using a strainer lined with cheesecloth, refill the jar with flour and fresh water, and repeat for around 7 days.  When the tannins are leached the flour will not taste bitter.
5. After the final straining, dry the flour by spreading it out on baking sheets and placing them in the sun or in a cool oven.  Store in airtight containers.