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Herbs & Cultures

Hupa medicine →

Hupa acorn soup

Porridge of leached acorn meal, the old staple of Hoopa Valley.

Traditional use

Time
15 minutes, plus a few days of leaching
Makes
4 bowls
Tanoak

The tanoak acorn was the staple food of the Hupa. The meal was leached until the bitterness was gone and cooked into soup or porridge. Acorn soup was also the only food of someone training for months to become a doctor. Traditionally the meal is cooked in a basket with hot stones; a pan works too.

Ingredients

  • 200 g shelled acorns (tanoak or another edible oak), or 100 g ready-made acorn meal
  • Plenty of cold water for leaching
  • 750 ml water for cooking

Step by step

  1. Grind the shelled acorns finely.
  2. Put the meal in a sieve lined with a cloth and keep pouring cold water over it, or set it in a jar of water and change the water twice a day, until after a few days the meal no longer tastes bitter.
  3. Stir the leached meal into 750 ml cold water in a pan.
  4. Bring to the boil, stirring, and simmer for 5 minutes until it is a smooth porridge.

Tips

  • Eat the soup as the Hupa do: without salt or sweetening, with fish or meat. If you like, add a little honey or some berries.

Registry

Herbs in this recipe

Read more about effects and safety on each herb’s page.

  • Caution

    North America · Food · № 979

    Tanoak

    Notholithocarpus densiflorus

    An evergreen tree of the beech family, between oak and chestnut. The acorns are nourishing but bitter with tannins, which must first be leached out.

    Hupa medicine

Cultures and traditions

Where the herbs come from

The herbs in this recipe also appear in these traditions.