This page gives some corroboration to my hypothesis that eating acorns improved the immunity to poison oak of the native American peoples of Northern California, under item 3 of "Traditional Herbal Home Remedies" for the "brown acorn water":
Pour some of the water into ice cube trays and freeze it. Then rub it on poison ivy blisters. It soothes and heals the blisters and helps reduce the itching. It is very effective on about 95% of the people who try it and the poison ivy is cured in three days. The cold ice helps to soothe the inflamed tissues.
My guess is that directly applying the liquid tannin-enriched water (from the first boiling of the acorn meats) would work as well.
last updated 2012-11-17 02:26:45. served from tektonic.jcomeau.com