Foods, medicine, tanning and dyes.
QUERCUS VIRGINIANA
(Ind. Qui-neel)
American Live Oak. This evergreen tree of the western mountain ranges is the most imposing of all the species of the oak family. It grows to an immense size and attains a great height. Some of these giants of the forest cover and shade an area large enough to afford protection to as many as three hundred adult persons.
A great deal has been written in song and poetry in praise of the stately oak but the Indians found out by experience that the acorns it bore were far more nutritious than poetry, and before long the noble tree was adopted as a regular member of the tribes—a bountiful provider of food.
Even so, the oak was by them much honored in war and love songs, for the many good things it furnished them besides food. The fallen leaves made warm mattress-bedding while the bark played a part in medicine and also in the tanning and dyeing of buckskin in various fast colors by blending with the bark of other oaks and roots. Let it be understood that these dyes thus produced were of a firm, non-fading nature and also excellent preservers of buckskin.
The colors produced were very beautiful and ranged from pure white to yellow, red, light and dark brown, light pink, gray and black.
Regarding the acorns, special care was given to the harvested crop and the process was simple. The acorns were put into fine, hand-woven net bags and tied with a rawhide rope to a tree close to the river bank whereupon the bags were placed in the stream. The running water would cause the acorn shell to swell and split open, thus releasing into the water most of the tannic acid which the acorns contained. After being left in the water for a week or so, they were taken out, the hulls removed and spread out to dry. Afterwards they were ground into a fine meal, sun-dried again, and then put away for winter use.
The porridge made of it jells like custard and, when well cooked, has the color of chocolate pie. It can be cut into squares and served with deer meat or eaten as a dessert with cream and sugar. Besides being very delicious and nourishing it is also a great flesh builder.
As a warning, let it be said, never to eat any acorns picked fresh from the tree, because of the tannic acid they contain; in that state they may cause severe constriction of the bowels and the glands of the throat.