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There are two rather distinct types of acorns in this drop.

All the light coloured ones I've opened have had a dark mold inside. You can (and I have) cut around this, but the remaining flesh is still incredibly bitter.

All the dark coloured ones I've opened have had minimal mold, or are mold free.

More experienced foragers than I tell me that oaks drop the bad acorns early, and later in the season there's a "good" drop of healthy acorns.

I wonder if that's what we're seeing here?

Needless to say, I've been selecting grabbing the dark acorns for soaking and eating.

I've grabbed a few light ones that looked like they were in excellent condition, but I'll process those differently.

I've heard of people doing acorn tanning, and I wonder if they moldstruck acorns would be better for this? It would make sense for them to make more tannins in response to disease, which is why they're even more bitter than usual acorns.

The other thing I've come across this walk are palm fruit! Date palms are the best known for their fruit, but many palms have palatable ones.

These ones were surprisingly decent! Good smell, very juicy, sweet, but also a bit fibrous and quite tart. Very much like some varieties of plums, including being better with the skin removed. They'd probably make a good jam.

@Lilysea : Food! Good acorns, prepared properly, are *really* tasty.

Of course I won't really know for sure about these ones until they're processed.

@cwicseolfor : Yes. These are all from the same tree.

@zl2tod : Yes, they are! That's why it's important to process them first.