Larry and I were brainstorming this morning about local food security and we thought about acorn, the freely-available, ubiquitous native protein source that we waste 1000s of pounds of each year here on the South Coast.

 

There has been a lot of talk over the years on these and other lists about how the Chumash harvested and processed acorn (and some still do), but many of us got discouraged by how difficult and lengthy the processing is and how we no longer have the fresh, clean streams to remove the tannins. The traditional methods seemed to require a whole community, lots of time, plus a pristine environment.

 

So we wondered... what if some clever permaculture or food tech person could come up with plans for an updated version of the traditional process? Perhaps a community-owned, sustainable acorn processing facility?  Not an easy technical problem, but we've put people on the moon so surely this can't be beyond us if we put our minds to it?  Such a facility would also provide sustainable local jobs and would qualify as what the Transition Initiative folks call a "Transition Industry."  The trick is how to do the processing without excessive water use -- or find a way to use the water that contains the tannins for another use?  And also how to turn the processed acorn into products that the factory can also make or that local cooks would be eager to use -- for flour, in soups, baked goods etc?

 

Also, in the past, Loren Luyendyk had the clever idea of grafting less-tannin oak varieties onto our native coast live oaks for an easier-to-process acorn.  This might allow us to do much less processing.

 

Can we come up with a method that both respects local indigenous traditions and highly productive native food plants like oak, but applies modern know-how to the processing so we can once again enjoy the benefits of this high-protein local food that is so productive and easy to grow in our area?

 

All ideas welcome!

 

Linda