Ingredient: Hazelnuts
Category: Nuts
Season: All
The Common Hazel (Corylus avellana) is a species of hazel native to Europe and western Asia, from the British Isles south to Iberia, Greece, Turkey and Cyprus, north to central Scandinavia, and east to the central Ural Mountains, the Caucasus and northwestern Iran.
Cultivation and uses:
The Common Hazel is an important component of the hedgerows that were the traditional field boundaries in lowland England.
The wood was traditionally grown as coppice; the poles cut being used for wattle-and-daub building and agricultural fencing.
Hazelnuts are rich in protein and unsaturated fat.
Moreover, they contain significant amounts of thiamine and vitamin B6, as well as smaller amounts of other B vitamins.
For those persons who need to restrict carbohydrates, 1 cup (237 ml) of hazelnut flour has 20 g of carbohydrates, 12 g fibre, for less than 10 net carbohydrates.
There are many cultivars of the Hazel, including 'Barcelona', 'Butler', 'Casina', 'Clark' 'Cosford', 'Daviana', 'Delle Langhe', 'England', 'Ennis', Fillbert, 'Halls Giant', 'Jemtegaard', 'Kent Cob', 'Lewis', 'Tokolyi', 'Tonda Gentile', 'Tonda di Giffoni', 'Tonda Romana', 'Wanliss Pride', and 'Willamette'.
Some of these are grown for specific qualities of the nut including large nut size, and early and late fruiting cultivars, whereas other are grown as pollinators.
The majority of commercial Hazelnuts are propagated from root sprouts.
Some cultivars are of hybrid origin between Common Hazel and Filbert.
Common Hazel is cultivated for its nuts in commercial orchards in Europe, Turkey, Iran and Caucasus.
The name "hazelnut" applies to the nuts of any of the species of the genus Corylus.
This hazelnut or cobnut, the kernel of the seed, is edible and used raw or roasted, or ground into a paste.
The seed has a thin, dark brown skin, which has a bitter flavour and is sometimes removed before cooking.
The top producer of hazelnuts, by a large margin, is Turkey, specifically the Ordu Province. Turkish hazelnut production of 625,000 tonnes accounts for approximately 75% of worldwide production
Here is a nut that really does grow well in Britain, though you have to keep a sharp lookout from late August or the squirrels will beat you to it.
A filbert is a large, cultivated variety of hazelnut and a cobnut is a fat, cultivated version.
Confusingly the famous Kentish cobnut really is Lambert’s filbert , but such considerations should not stop you swooping on any your greengrocer is enterprising enough to find. |