Any elementary student in California can tell you that the state's first human inhabitants ate acorns as a major part of their diet. But few ever get the chance to learn what acorns actually taste like.
I'd thought that was simply because acorns taste horrible and no one would ever be so foolish as to try and get a bunch of kids to eat them. Well, it turns out that I was wrong on both points.
Acorns actually taste pretty good, even to children. I saw -- and tasted -- proof last week when I accompanied a third grade class to an excellent educational program run by Coyote Hills Regional Park in the city of Fremont. Over a full school day, it introduces students to a variety of aspects of native Ohlone culture and ends with the cooking of their traditional acorn mush.
When cooked right, that mush turns into a kind of oatmeal substance with a hint of walnut. The picture below (of the very mush we got to try) has the look re-fried beans, but there was no taste of fat. It was more like a delicate porridge made from an obscure grain. Most of the children lapped up their portions and asked for more.
So why don't we eat acorns still? My guess is that it has a lot to do with the preparation required to get them into an edible state. As the kids discovered, it's a laborious, time-sink of a process. It also involves placing red hot stones into the mush and mixing them about while the whole thing sizzles. I got the impression that if you take the stones out too late or too early, or if you don't cook the acorns evenly, then you can end up with something distinctly inedible.
But cook acorns right and, I'm delighted to discover, you have a treat.
Native, abundant, with a historic connection to the people who first lived here and a pleasant, novel flavor: I wouldn't be surprised to see acorns become the next must-have ingredient in the Bay Area's ever-innovating food culture.