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Excerpts from:
THE ACORN, A POSSIBLY NEGLECTED SOURCE OF FOOD
By C. Hart Merriam
(chief of the U.S. Biological Survey)
Article first published in
National Geographic August 1918
'That a food of such genuine worth should be disregarded by our people is one of many illustrations of the reluctance of white man to avail himself of sources of subsistence long utilized by the aborigines (native American Indians).
We seem to prefer crops that require laborious preparation of the soil, followed by costly planting and cultivation, rather than those provided without price by bountiful nature.'
THE ACORN, A POSSIBLY NEGLECTED SOURCE OF FOOD
By C. Hart Merriam
(chief of the U.S. Biological Survey)
Article first published in
National Geographic August 1918
'That a food of such genuine worth should be disregarded by our people is one of many illustrations of the reluctance of white man to avail himself of sources of subsistence long utilized by the aborigines (native American Indians).
We seem to prefer crops that require laborious preparation of the soil, followed by costly planting and cultivation, rather than those provided without price by bountiful nature.'
800 BC, the Greek poet Hesiod, in his Works and Days, asserted that acorns effectively prevented hunger:
"Honest people do not suffer from famine, since the gods give them abundant subsistence: acorn-bearing oaks, honey and sheep."
The Roman poet Ovid (43BC - 18AD) later repeats the story of acorns being eaten in Fasti, a retelling of the religious festivals of the Roman calendar. Under the feast of Ceres, goddess of grain and agriculture, he remembers that prior to the age of agriculture, people lived on acorns: "the sturdy oak afforded a splendid affluence."
The Roman poet and philosopher Lucretius (99BC - 55BC) also tells us that acorn decked oak boughs were carried in procession in the rites of the Eluesian Mysteries, so important was the oak to people's lives.
Pliny (23 - 79AD) Roman author, naturalist and natural philosopher was the most prolific story collector of his time. He described all the different oaks of which he was aware and their many uses:
"acorns at this very day constitute the wealth of many races, even when they are enjoying peace. Moreover also, when there is a scarcity of corn they are dried and ground into flour which is kneaded to make bread; beside this, at present day also in the Spanish provinces a place is found for acorns in the second course at table."
"Honest people do not suffer from famine, since the gods give them abundant subsistence: acorn-bearing oaks, honey and sheep."
The Roman poet Ovid (43BC - 18AD) later repeats the story of acorns being eaten in Fasti, a retelling of the religious festivals of the Roman calendar. Under the feast of Ceres, goddess of grain and agriculture, he remembers that prior to the age of agriculture, people lived on acorns: "the sturdy oak afforded a splendid affluence."
The Roman poet and philosopher Lucretius (99BC - 55BC) also tells us that acorn decked oak boughs were carried in procession in the rites of the Eluesian Mysteries, so important was the oak to people's lives.
Pliny (23 - 79AD) Roman author, naturalist and natural philosopher was the most prolific story collector of his time. He described all the different oaks of which he was aware and their many uses:
"acorns at this very day constitute the wealth of many races, even when they are enjoying peace. Moreover also, when there is a scarcity of corn they are dried and ground into flour which is kneaded to make bread; beside this, at present day also in the Spanish provinces a place is found for acorns in the second course at table."
The word balanoculture is the offspring of a mixed marriage between Greek βάλανος (balanos = acorn) and Latin cultura. It means a society in which the collection, storage, preparation, and consumption of acorns as a foodstuff play a large role.
Today:
Koreans regularly eat dotori-muk (acorn jelly). Acorn flour, acorn jelly and acorn noodles are available in most Korean markets.
Chinese prepare a stew of leached acorns and water chestnuts in brown sauce.
Turks prepare Raccahout, a hot drink or porridge of acorn meal mixed with vanilla, sugar, and other flours.
In Extramadura Spain acorns are used for sweets, Iberian Ham and Bellota Acorn Liquor.
The word for oak in Tunisia means "the meal-bearing tree.'
Koreans regularly eat dotori-muk (acorn jelly). Acorn flour, acorn jelly and acorn noodles are available in most Korean markets.
Chinese prepare a stew of leached acorns and water chestnuts in brown sauce.
Turks prepare Raccahout, a hot drink or porridge of acorn meal mixed with vanilla, sugar, and other flours.
In Extramadura Spain acorns are used for sweets, Iberian Ham and Bellota Acorn Liquor.
The word for oak in Tunisia means "the meal-bearing tree.'
The ancient Arcadians, a pastoral people who lived on the edge of the Mediterranean, had legends of a past in which people ate the fruit of oak trees.
Hesiod - 8oo BC
"the earth bears them victuals in plenty; on the mountains the oak bears acorns upon the top and bees in the midst."
The Californian Indians all ate acorn breads. The naturalist John Muir (1838 - 1914) called the acorn cakes he learned to make from the Indians "the most compact and strength-giving food" because they were easily portable, very nutritious, and kept for months without spoiling.
Pausanias, in his Description of Greece, written c. 160 AD, described the founding of the kingdom of Arcadia by Pelasgus, who, he reports, invented the use of houses, the wearing of sheepskins, and the eating of acorns:
"he too it was who checked the habit of eating green leaves, grasses, and roots always inedible and sometimes poisonous. But he introduced as food the nuts of trees, not those of all trees but only acorns of the edible oak."
Though Pausanias was writing about what to him was antiquity, he notes that still in his own time, the Arcadians were fond of acorns.
Archaeological finds have uncovered what appear to be grinding tools predating any evidence of wild wheat having been cut for human consumption. It is widely believed that these tools were used for grinding nuts, principally acorns.
David Bainbridge, who coined the term balanoculture, studied acorn use in California Indians and concluded that villages could harvest enough acorns in three weeks to support villages of one thousand people for two to three years. He contends that balanocultures were among the most stable and affluent cultures the human world has ever known. It was only as people moved down into the plains from the oak uplands of Europe, Asia, North Africa and North America and began cultivating grains that we actually had to start working hard for our food!
During the late 19th century, travel writer and naturalist, Isabella Bishop, came upon villages in Kurdistan where people ate acorn bread with curds.
"he too it was who checked the habit of eating green leaves, grasses, and roots always inedible and sometimes poisonous. But he introduced as food the nuts of trees, not those of all trees but only acorns of the edible oak."
Though Pausanias was writing about what to him was antiquity, he notes that still in his own time, the Arcadians were fond of acorns.
Archaeological finds have uncovered what appear to be grinding tools predating any evidence of wild wheat having been cut for human consumption. It is widely believed that these tools were used for grinding nuts, principally acorns.
David Bainbridge, who coined the term balanoculture, studied acorn use in California Indians and concluded that villages could harvest enough acorns in three weeks to support villages of one thousand people for two to three years. He contends that balanocultures were among the most stable and affluent cultures the human world has ever known. It was only as people moved down into the plains from the oak uplands of Europe, Asia, North Africa and North America and began cultivating grains that we actually had to start working hard for our food!
During the late 19th century, travel writer and naturalist, Isabella Bishop, came upon villages in Kurdistan where people ate acorn bread with curds.
MANY OF THESE HISTORICAL NOTES ADAPTED FROM:
William Bryant Logan's "Oak - The Frame of Civilization
William Bryant Logan's "Oak - The Frame of Civilization
