Today we picked our hazelnuts! They seemed ready, and going by everything we read about them here in Minnesota the time to pick them is early August. We are probably a few days late, but I am pretty sure we got them before the worms! We have shelled several handfuls of them, and split the nuts open, and have found NO worms! So I think we got them in time! And they are really delicious. Small, but delicious. We picked two 5 gallon buckets full, and so I think we will be separating the nuts from the husks for a couple of evenings. We also discovered that we have TWO bushes of these hazelnuts! And they were just loaded with nuts. The bushes are right next to our highbush cranberries, which are also ready.
It was no easy task getting to the nut bushes, though. Harold took the tractor through the area to smash down the tall grasses, but there was still lots of stinging nettle, and thistle to fight with. I should have worn long sleeves for picking, as I rubbed up against stinging nettle and immediately got a nasty rash, which is already blistered. I just put some hydrocortisone cream on the rash, and it feels better now. Next time I will wear long sleeves!
The experts say to keep the nuts in a hot place for a few days to dry out, and then freeze the nuts, so they don't get rancid. Crack them as you need them. These nuts will be delicious in breads and coffeecakes, and with the high price of nuts in the supermarkets, this is a real blessing to have! And to think we never knew we had these hazelnut bushes! A person learns something new every day.
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| A whole table full of hazelnuts to separate from the husks. Two 5 gallon buckets full. |
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| The nuts are encased in a thin husk. It isn't too bad of a job to pick out the brown nut. | | |
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| Some hazelnuts that we already husked, and a couple of shelled nuts that I split open so you can see the nice white insides. |
1 comment:
We'll be right over. :-)
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