What to do with Hazelnuts

[johnnytheboy]

Hi There,

I was out and about on our shoot today checking out pheasants when I noticed we have a pile of hazelnuts on a few trees, they are very grenn at the moment.

I was wondering whats the best time to pick them and anyone got any good tips on what to do with them????

 

[Mesquite]

Cover them in chocolate?

 

[JonathanD]

Roast them and...

Cover them in chocolate?

 

[slowworm]

If the squirrels, voles and mice leave you some them there's plenty of ways to use them. I like them lightly roasted and use quite a few in a pesto sauce, along with garlic, oil and basil. This year we'd like to try grinding them and adding to cakes etc.

 

[Cap'n Badger]

Hazel nut coffee...use the same method as fer acorns

 

[johnnytheboy]

Sounds interesting Cap'n how do you go about making acorn coffee?

Slowworm, we will be putting about 4 ton of barley into our shoot through our feeders, hopefully keep the mice busy than at my nuts

I was wondering now i cant find my food for free book, whens the best time to pick hazelnuts?

 

[Cap'n Badger]

http://www.bushcraftuk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=15547&highlight=acorn+coffee
Like this.....

 

[DFCA]

I was going to post the question of when to pick them too

We have quite a few covered in green ones at the moment, they are usually all pilfered by tree rats (though I dare not do anything about that lest the RSPCA think I am nasty )

Watching this one with great interest

ATB
Dave

 

[marcusleftthesite]

Mid september is around the best time.

 

[Melonfish]

Mid september is around the best time.

if they last that long!

shell and roast for the ultimate snack food, its odd how after 3-4 raw hazelnuts you're thinking "hmm tasty but i really don't want to eat any more"
yet roast em and you'll be wondering where the hell they've all gone and why your left with a pile of papery skins
actually has anyone tried the skins as tinder? prolly a bit easy to blow away but i reckon the roasted skins should catch a light easily enough, perhaps grind into a powder like miya dust?

 

[Tallyho]

Remember guys don't overharvest one tree or area as thats greedy. Leave plenty for the animals as they don't have a fridge full of food or a macd's round the corner. The tree rats as someone has called them continue the true wild oak, hazel n beech populations for the future benefit of the area/environment for all animals including us. Its down to them forgetful little fellas that do most of the seed planting for your enjoyment.

Where i am its mid sep onwards.

 

[DFCA]

The tree rats as someone has called them continue the true wild oak, hazel n beech populations for the future benefit of the area/environment for all animals including us. Its down to them forgetful little fellas that do most of the seed planting for your enjoyment.

I guess you have never had one of these lovely little creatures enter your house via your chimney and destroy your curtains and an entire window frame then? I wonder how the tree population coped before the arrival of this invasive species?

That said, I do still smile when I watch them - so I am not a total anti-grey fascist, just get miffed when they eat my crops (I planted the hazels NOT the squirrels, along with the almonds, cherries ... the list goes on. They sure are not hungry around me, fat little buggers if anything!

ATB
Dave

 

[bikebum1975]

Cover them in chocolate?

Grind them up and mix them in chocolate oh and roast them first lol

 

[Mesquite]

Grind them up and mix them in chocolate oh and roast them first lol

That would mean you'd get.....

 

[mattweasel]

Got a hazel tree at the end of my garden. I had loads of them last year, some for me and some for the rodents, if the nuts fell on one spot they were mine and if they fell on another spot it was theirs.
Unfortunately there don't seem to be many this year.
My youngest son and I ate most of them, some just as they are and others roasted and lightly salted. Hungry now.

 

[johnnytheboy]

Was round again tonight and there are thousands of Hazelnuts, every second tree is a hazel and they are loaded!!!

Looking forward to getting stuck into them, they are very green at the moment, I brought some home to attempt to roast them, they are not ready yet but i thought i would experiment!!

 

[Harvestman]

Add them into a bannock mix, or chop them up into a pancake/scone mix.

 

[ThreeFires]

Our hazelnuts are just getting ripe. This is my first year picking any so I'm looking for ideas as well. I roasted a few up in the oven and they are real good.

 

[pango]

Roe or boar (or squirrel?) dipped in flour, egg and rolled in ground hazelnut crust, fry to brown then stick it in the oven. Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm!

There's nothing worse than gettin yer nuts gnawed!

Cheers.

 

[hairyneil]

I got a good haul from Mull the other day, spent the best part of 4hours cracking them and now have just over 10ounces or nuts to roast and store!

They're really good in any kind of baked biscuits or flapjack, especially after they're roasted you can crush them to almost powder with your fingers.

My mum makes hazelnut meringues if you're feeling fancy! Blitz roasted hazels in a food processor then mix into the meringue mix....delicious!