Acorns are everywhere!!! Some are super tasty and some are really nasty. Here's how I prepared some toasted acorns that I scavenged on a hike!

Step 1: Collect a Ton of Acorns

I tied off the sleeves of my shirt to make a carrying pouch so I could carry as much as possible. It's also a good idea to taste an acorn before you decide to pick up a metric s*** ton. Mildly bitter is okay. Avoid super bitter trees.

Step 2: Split 'em Open!

This step involved almost cutting my finger off. You could crush them but I had a lot of acorns that had bugs in them so I wanted to be able to cut out good pieces of all the acorns. This process took like forever.

Step 3: SOAK SOAK SOAK

I guess you could boil them that's a whole other process that I'm a little wary of. I just used cold water and left it on my countertop. You might have to do this for a long time. (Several days) Taste the acorns to see if they're still bitter as you go.

Step 4: The Shells Will Go in the Compost Heap

If you like eating grubs you could eat all the ones you find. I think that's gross so I gust tossed those in the compost too. In this pic you can see the water getting yellow. That the bitterness oozing out. It's called tannic acid but it doesn't matter what it's called. It makes the nuts nasty.

Step 5: Roast Da Nuts

I just used a hot dry pan on the stove and stirred them constantly.

They're not the nuttiest nut ever but they're free!

ENJOY!

Note: bad acorns and bitter ones can make you sick. As anything don't overdo it. Through this process I decided that buying nuts from the store was easier and honestly acorns aren't my favorite nut... But there's a LOT of nutmeat on those suckers. I'm gonna try them salted and see how they taste.