I am nuts about nuts. I love to eat them, but even more so I love to cook with them ~ then eat them. Given the chance, I could spend on nuts what others spend at a coffee shop, easily and regularly. I can’t decide if walnuts or hazelnuts are my favourite*.
When I moved to France, I discovered that hazelnut trees grow almost like weeds here. (Lucky me!) Once you start looking, they are everywhere, from gardens to hedgerows to supermarket carparks. I felt like a kid in a sweet shop with the biggest smile on my face.
Foraging
In the past, I have only ever purchased nuts from a store. Having the chance to forage, collect and prepare had me bouncing with excitement.
Each autumn, when I go out for a walk, I take along an empty basket. Or at the very least a bag in my pocket. I check out my regular route of hazelnut trees along the way. It doesn’t take long for my basket to fill. It’s a gift that keeps on giving. In fact I have been foraging hazel nuts now for almost 2 months!
It Was a Very Good Year
Hazelnut trees can be amazingly prolific. It isn’t the case every year though. And I gather this is quite normal for hazelnuts. Walnuts tend to be more regular in their production, but hazelnuts have good and bad years. Last year, for example, not a nut. This year, the bounty spilleth over.
And there are a lot of trees around the village too. There are two amazing trees on either corner of my little town’s petanque pitch. They are amazing producers, even sometimes in off years. Whenever I go to do some shopping, I take a long a plastic bag in my pocket and collect en-route. And I am not the only one.
Collected Nuts – Now What?
It is only a matter of a few weeks to let the nuts dry. Much shorter than walnuts. I found a number of recommendations on the wonderful internet on how to crack them open. The best I came across was using a large plastic ziploc bag, placing the bag on a hard floor surface and tapping the nuts with a mallet.
At first I would hit too hard and pulverise the shell, and consequently the nut within. (Though I was still able to extract some for use.) With a bit of practise I have become very adept at tapping just so and splitting the hard shell.
And since nothing goes to waste here, the ’empty’ broken shells are then put out in the bottom garden for the birds and squirrels to forage through. They always managed to find a few tasty morsels I had missed or were too small for my use.
And Then…
Once I complete a bag, I extract the nuts from the shells and put them on a baking sheet and into a low temperature oven to roast for about 20 – 30 minutes.
I don’t generally do all the nuts at once. (It does take a lot of time.) Rather, I work on cracking them throughout the winter. As I run out of them, I will go through the process again from a basket of the nuts kept on my sideboard. An as and when mentality. It means the nuts stay fresher since they stay encased in their shells.
Growing Hazelnuts
If you decide to grow your own tree, the great thing is hazelnut trees grow very easily. And very fast! Though it takes a number of years for maturity to produce the nuts stage. Check out this post on growing your own hazelnut trees if you wish to have a go yourself.
Like willow, their branches are strong yet bendy. Hazelnuts send up shoots each spring. It’s best to copse your tree, or bush, each year to keep it healthy. These branches are perfect to use for wattling fences!
Cooking with hazelnuts is simple. Most often I simply toss in a few to a veggie dish to add a bit of flavoursome crunch. So whether you grow your own, forage or buy in a shop, consider adding these tasty healthy treats to your food.
Here’s some of my favourite recipes made from Hazelnuts:
Celeriac, Hazelnut and Truffle Soup
Hazelnut and Cauliflower Nut Roast
You can even make your own Nutella spread (did you know that the hazelnut is the ‘nut’ in Nutella?)
*Favourite Nut? Hmmm, I have to say I think walnuts just pip hazelnuts at the post, but only because they have a tiny bit more diversity, like Broccoli Stem Walnut Pesto. Oh, and now walnut foraging season is about the same time as hazelnuts. Time to get out and collecting.
More Food?
For more food related posts from France, check out my Food Findings.
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