My tribe shelled them and put them in a creak bed and let the water run over them for a long time then they would dry them in the sun, pound them with a pestle until made into a flour. Then make a bowl shape in clean sand on the river bank and put the flour in there and pour fresh water over and over it ( it’s called leaching it) Then they would make bread but mainly make a soup or much out of it.They cooked the mush in baskets made just for that by putting hot rocks into the mush and keeping the rock moving to heat it but not burn the basket. To eat them raw right out of the shell will make you sick, that is, if you can keep them in your mouth long enough to swallow, as they are pure bitterness.
Yep, sounds like the Miwak tribe of this area, If you go along the rivers(actually creeks)around here you can see the holes in the rocks where they ground the acorns. Acorns will make you puke for sure unless you do leach them! Nice to hear from someone who knows the real deal about acorns! How deer eat them is beyond me!