Gathering and Cooking Acorns

Gathering and Cooking Acorns. . Alson and Tuibun Ohlones called this place now known as the Fremont Plain home for countless generations. They managed the landscape in a way that increased the numbers and health of the plants and animals on which they relied for food, shelter, clothes, ceremonial regalia, containers, tools, games, toys, and more. Spanish, Mexican, and American settlement in the area, beginning in 1797 at the village of Oroysom (now Mission San Jose), brought tremendous disruption, suffering, and change to Ohlones. Despite this history, today’s Ohlones are proud to keep their cultures and cultural values alive while living as modern Americans. They advocate for the preservation of ancestral cultural and scared sites, as well as the environment., Generations of Ohlones reminisce about the fifth generation in the photograph. From left to right, from great-grandmother to great-granddaughter: Ruth Orta holding a photograph of her mother Trina Marine Ruano; Ramona Garibay; Rita Rodrigue; Athina Rodriguez., Groves of oak trees, like the one you are standing in, provided abundant harvests. Before gathering acorns, Ohlones conducted ceremonies and offered prayers of thanks., Images: , Mature, healthy acorns are cracked open, Winnowing in a Western Mono-style basket to remove the red skin, Pounding acorns with a mortar and pestle to turn them into flour, Sifting to separate the fine from the coarse flour, Leaching flour to remove tannic acids, resulting in a light, nutty flavor, River-rounded volcanic rocks are heated in a fire, rinsed of ash, and lowered into flour and water mixture, The rocks are slowly stirred in a pre-soaked cooking basket that doesn’t burn., Making acorn soup: Ramona Garibay (Jalquin/Saclan Ohlone/Miwok) (above) demonstrates how to make acorn soup the old way, using stones tools and baskets.