Hazelnut advice :)

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Will_

Nomad
Feb 21, 2013
446
3
Dorset
Collected a few hazelnuts today :)
They were scattered on the ground all over the place amidst loads that had already been tucked into by squirrels (I guess.)
First time I've ever collected any. They look like these: http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Zme9uLIDxPY/TjpoH8curEI/AAAAAAAACGM/wg6wLhbwRTo/s1600/101_2515.JPG
What should I do with them now?
Do they just turn brown by themselves?
Was it too soon to collect them?
Any advice would be greatly appreciated!
Will
 

slowworm

Full Member
May 8, 2008
1,982
934
Devon
Crack open a few and see if they have any nuts formed inside them. I would say it's too early for harvesting them, often at this time of year ones that haven't formed any nut will fall early.
 

daveO

Native
Jun 22, 2009
1,453
513
South Wales
I quite like eating them green and crunchy but it's probably still too early for them to be edible. Only one way to find out though...
 

Coldfeet

Life Member
Mar 20, 2013
893
58
Yorkshire
Yup, open them and see what you have got - I got a couple last weekend of similar colour, and they weren't good to eat.
 

John Fenna

Lifetime Member & Maker
Oct 7, 2006
23,109
2,843
66
Pembrokeshire
Sometimes you get a little white "proto-nut" or "milk nut" in the middle of the green nuts - I have had about a dozen of these so far this year. They have a subtle flavour and a pleasant texture but are not really worth the effort of eating.
Hazels are best harvested when they are brown on the tree or are just starting to fall by themselves ... but, by then the squirrels have normally stripped the trees bare!
 

slowworm

Full Member
May 8, 2008
1,982
934
Devon
I tend to pick ours about mid September when they're turning light brown in the husks on the tree and the nuts will come away easily. You will lose loads to squirrels etc, we lose a lot to Jays, mice and voles. Our trees have just started being attacked by critters in the last week even though there's not much in the nuts yet.

Any nuts that have black blotches on them are likely to be empty or infected so just through them away. If you plan to store them then take them out of the husks as they go mouldy, and lightly dry them. If storing for a while the kernels will shrivel but can be rehydrated by boiling them for a few minutes in a little water.
 

Quixoticgeek

Full Member
Aug 4, 2013
2,483
23
Europe
To quote John Seymour "The best way to find a hazelnut tree is to follow a squirrel, the best way to get a harvest off the tree, is to shoot the squirrel"

Down this way they ripen around mid September.

Julia
 

dwardo

Bushcrafter through and through
Aug 30, 2006
6,451
475
46
Nr Chester
Sometimes you get a little white "proto-nut" or "milk nut" in the middle of the green nuts - I have had about a dozen of these so far this year. They have a subtle flavour and a pleasant texture but are not really worth the effort of eating.
Hazels are best harvested when they are brown on the tree or are just starting to fall by themselves ... but, by then the squirrels have normally stripped the trees bare!

Same here. The only time I get chance to try one is when they are under-developed like now or, from a shop :( Tree rats to blame.
 

Kadushu

If Carlsberg made grumpy people...
Jul 29, 2014
852
920
Kent
Tried a nut from my cobnut tree and it was full size but white. The wild hazels here (Kent) are way behind, they are just little white blobs now. The squirrels have been stripping them all the same. Luckily I've never seen a squirrel in my garden :)
 

Will_

Nomad
Feb 21, 2013
446
3
Dorset
Cracked one nut... empty :(
This might be an excuse to snare a few squirrels though...
Are rat traps tied to trees a legal way to snare? (Assuming one has landowners permission etc)
 

Kadushu

If Carlsberg made grumpy people...
Jul 29, 2014
852
920
Kent
Cracked one nut... empty :(
This might be an excuse to snare a few squirrels though...
Are rat traps tied to trees a legal way to snare? (Assuming one has landowners permission etc)

Not sure of the legality, but I'd be afraid of catching woodpeckers. Squirrels are suckers for live traps.
 

slowworm

Full Member
May 8, 2008
1,982
934
Devon
It would depend on the trap. An open snap type trap then definitely no, as you'll catch all sorts. A livecatch trap then possibly, provided you check it regularly and release non-targets and humanely (and legally) dispatch grey squirrels. Something like a Kania squirrel trap with its tunnel entrance should prevent anything other than squirrels being killed, assuming there's no reds in the area either.

Probably not worth the effort unless part of a planned squirrel control.
 
Jun 10, 2014
21
0
United Kingdom
Found about 2 dozen hazelnut shrubs this year in a local farmers hedge rows all laden with nuts, just a matter of keeping a eye on them and getting to them when the kernel inside is nice and fat and before the local squirrel population get to them.
 

Gaudette

Full Member
Aug 24, 2012
872
17
Cambs
As the world hazelnut crop has failed this year I would suggest hoarding your crops and releasing them onto the world market when the time is right!
 
Jun 10, 2014
21
0
United Kingdom
As the world hazelnut crop has failed this year I would suggest hoarding your crops and releasing them onto the world market when the time is right!

LOL, I could probably go out now and get several bin bags full of them, and all are no more than a three mile walk from my house, every time I take the dog for a walk I find my self looking in the hedge rows, finding new shrubs every time.
 

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