You can use a nut cracker for some of the harder ones, but there are varieties that can easily be cracked just by squeezing two nuts together. Often they are called paper shelled but it is thicker than paper. To learn exactly what kind are in your area, gather a few leaves (when green) and some nuts. There are online sites that have photos of a large number of the varieties. Once you know what type yours are, google can lead you to specific information on that tree. There are sites that talk about how to shell, how to remove the tannins for that specific tree, the nutritional content and much more.
You can use a nut cracker for some of the harder ones, but there are varieties that can easily be cracked just by squeezing two nuts together. Often they are called paper shelled but it is thicker than paper. To learn exactly what kind are in your area, gather a few leaves (when green) and some nuts. There are online sites that have photos of a large number of the varieties. Once you know what type yours are, google can lead you to specific information on that tree. There are sites that talk about how to shell, how to remove the tannins for that specific tree, the nutritional content and much more.
Excellent, thanks for those tips! Harvesting acorns is on my must do list for 2018 :)