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Hazelnuts, with shell (left), without shell (right)

A hazelnut is the nut of the hazel and is also known as a cob nut or filbert nut according to species. A cob is roughly spherical to oval, about 15'25 mm long and 10'15 mm in diameter, with an outer fibrous husk surrounding a smooth shell. A filbert is more elongated, being about twice as long as it is round. The nut falls out of the husk when ripe, about 7'8 months after pollination. The kernel of the seed is edible and used raw or roasted, or ground into a paste. Hazelnuts are also used for livestock feed, as are chestnuts and acorns. The seed has a thin, dark brown skin and can sometimes be removed before cooking.

Hazelnuts are produced in commercial quantities in Turkey, Italy and in the American states of Oregon and Washington. Turkey is, by far, the largest producer of hazelnuts in the world.

Hazelnuts are extensively used in confectionery to make praline and also used in combination with chocolate for chocolate truffles and products such as Nutella. Hazelnut oil, pressed from hazelnuts, is strongly flavoured and used as a cooking oil.

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. Additionally, 1 cup (237 ml) of hazelnut flour has 20 g of carbohydrates, 12 g of which are fibre.^[1]

[edit] Cultivars

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'.^[2] Some of these are grown for specific qualities of the nut including large nut size, and early and late fruiting cultivars, whereas others are grown as pollinators. The majority of commercial Hazelnuts are propagated from root sprouts.^[2] Some cultivars are of hybrid origin between Common Hazel and Filbert.^[3]

[edit] Cultivation

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, 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 Giresun Province. Turkish hazelnut production of 625,000 tonnes accounts for approximately 75% of worldwide production.^[4]

In North America: in the United States, hazelnut production is concentrated in two states, Oregon and Washington, while they are also grown extensively just to the north, in the Fraser Valley of British Columbia, Canada. In 1996, the in-shell production in Oregon was about 19,900 tons (18,000 tonnes) compared to 100 tons (91 tonnes) in Washington.^[5] Recent orchard plantings in California are likely to increase production in the United States.^{[citation needed]} Hazelnuts are also found in the Pangi valley of Chamba district in India, where they are known as thangi. The hazelnut is growing in popularity in the U.S., where a Hazelnut Council has been set up to promote its use.^{[citation needed]} The harvesting of hazelnuts is done either by hand or by manual or mechanical raking of fallen nuts.

Common Hazel - from Thomé, Flora von Deutschland, Österreich und der Schweiz, 1885

Hazelnuts are extensively used in confectionery to make praline and also used in combination with chocolate for chocolate truffles and hazelnut paste products (such as Nutella). In the United States, hazelnut butter is being promoted as a more nutritious spread than its peanut butter counterpart, though it has a higher fat content.^{[citation needed]} In Austria and especially in Vienna, hazelnut paste is an important ingredient in the world famous tortes (such as Viennese hazelnut torte) which are made there. Hazelnuts are also the main ingredient of the classic Dacquoise. Vodka-based Hazelnut liqueurs, such as Frangelico, are also increasing in popularity, especially in the U.S. and eastern Europe.^{[citation needed]}

Hazelnut is popular as a flavouring or coffee, especially in the form of Hazelnut latte. Hazelnut-flavoured coffee seems (to many users) to be slightly sweetened and less acidic, even though the nut is low in natural saccharides.^{[citation needed]} The reason for such perception is not yet understood.

In Australia, over 2,000 tonnes are imported annually, mostly to supply the demand from the Cadbury company for inclusion in its eponymous milk chocolate bar, which is the third most popular brand in Australia.^{[citation needed]} Hazelnut oil, pressed from hazelnuts, is strongly flavoured and used as a cooking oil. Hazelnuts are also grown extensively in Australia in orchards growing varieties mostly imported from Europe. It is also grown in New Zealand^[6] and Chile.^[7]

Primitive archers have also used hazel wood for making equipment. The fine grain and tendency to grow with fairly straight shoots makes them suitable shaft material. Larger material, selected to be relatively straight and free from knots, is suitable for making bows.^[8]

Common hazel is used by a number of species of Lepidoptera as a food plant.^[9]

[edit] Harvesting

Hazelnut output in 2005

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Hazel nuts are harvested annually in mid autumn. As autumn comes to a close, the trees drop their nuts and leaves. Most commercial growers wait for the nuts to drop on their own, rather than use equipment to shake them from the tree.

There are three primary pieces of equipment used in commercial harvesting; the sweeper, the harvester, and the forklift. The sweeper centralizes the material into rows, the harvester lifts and separates the nuts from the debris, and the forklift hauls the nuts away for processing. The sweeper is a low-to-the-ground tractor that makes multiple passes along the rows with a 2 m belt attached to the front that sweeps leaves, nuts, and small twigs from left to right, depositing the material in a row as it drives forward. On the rear of the tractor is a powerful blower that pushes material left into the adjacent row with air speeds up to 90 m/s. Careful grooming during the year and patient blowing at harvest can eliminate the need for hand raking around the trunk of the tree where nuts can accumulate. The sweeper prepares two rows at a time as it travels the rows. After its final pass, all the material on the ground has been deposited in 60 cm wide rows for the harvester to process. It is best to only sweep a few rows ahead of the harvesters at any given time, as the rows are susceptible to moisture and parasites.

A sweeper makes its first pass as it centralizes the material on the orchard floor

The harvester is a slow moving machine that lifts the material off the ground and separates the nuts from leaves, empty husks, and twigs. As the harvester drives over the rows, a rotating cylinder with hundreds of tines rakes the material onto a belt. The belt takes the material over a blower and under a powerful vacuum that sucks the light weight dirt and leaves off the nuts and discharges it into the orchard. The remaining nuts are conveyed into a tote box.

Once a box fills with nuts, a third tractor will haul away full boxes and bring empties to the harvester to minimize time spent not collecting nuts.

There are two different timing strategies for collecting the fallen nuts. The first option is to harvest early when only half of the nuts have fallen. With less material on the ground, the machines can work much faster and are less subject to breakdown. The other option is to wait for all the nuts to fall and go over the crop once. The first option is easier, but takes longer to perform with two passes.

Ideally, the orchard should not be so dry that dust reduces vision and equipment efficiency. Conversely if it is too wet, mud cakes in the machinery and moisture weighs down the material, making it more difficult to lift and separate.

[edit] Diseases

[edit] Mesolithic food industry

In 1995 evidence of large-scale Mesolithic nut processing, some 9,000 years old, was found in a midden pit on the island of Colonsay in Scotland. The evidence consists of a large, shallow pit full of the remains of hundreds of thousands of burned hazelnut shells. Hazelnuts have been found on other Mesolithic sites, but rarely in such quantities or concentrated in one pit. The nuts were radiocarbon dated to 7720+/-110BP, which calibrates to circa 7000 BC. Similar sites in Britain are known only at Farnham in Surrey and Cass ny Hawin on the Isle of Man.^[10][11] See also Sruwaddacon Bay, Kilcommon, Erris, County Mayo, Ireland.

This discovery gives an insight into communal activity and planning in the period. The nuts were harvested in a single year and pollen analysis suggests that the hazel trees were all cut down at the same time.^[11] The scale of the activity, unparalleled elsewhere in Scotland, and the lack of large game on the island, suggests the possibility that Colonsay contained a community with a largely vegetarian diet for the time they spent on the island. The pit was originally on a beach close to the shore, and was associated with two smaller stone-lined pits, whose function remains obscure, a hearth, and a second cluster of pits.^[10]

[edit] Hazelnut and cancer medication

Recently a group of Italian researchers in the Department of Translational Oncology, National Institute for Cancer Research, IST, Genova with the collaboration of the University of Genova, Italy, has confirmed the presence of taxanes in the shells and leaves of hazel plants. Among these, paclitaxel, 10-deacetylbaccatin III, baccatin III, paclitaxel C, and 7-epipaclitaxel. The finding of these compounds in shells, which are considered discarded material and are mass produced by many food industries, is of interest for the future availability of paclitaxel "Taxol".^[12]

[edit] Turkish Hazelnut

Turkish hazelnuts are not to be confused with the wild hazelnut of Turkey, Corylus colurna, whose small fruit make it useful only as rootstock. The Turkish nuts are categorized into two in terms of quality, Ordu Levant and Giresun.

Ordu Levant Quality: This is the common name given to all hazelnuts that are grown in regions other than the region of Giresun quality hazelnut. Called Levant Akçakoca, Levant Ordu, Levant Trabzon or Levant Samsun depending on the place they are grown.^{[citation needed]}

Giresun Quality: Fat hazelnuts grown in the entire province of Giresun and fat hazelnuts grown in BeÅ�ikdüzü, Vakfä�kebir, ÇarÅ�ä�baÅ�ä� and Akçaabat towns of the province of Trabzon, which are more or less similar to Giresun quality.

[edit] Health benefits

Hazelnut has a significant place among the types of dried nut in terms of nutrition and health because of the special composition of fats (primarily oleic acid), protein, carbohydrates, vitamins (vitamin E), minerals, dietary fibres, phytosterol (beta-cytosterol) and antioxidant phenolics.^[13] The nutritional and sensory properties of hazelnut make it a unique and ideal material for food products. Hazelnuts are a good source of energy with their 60.5% fat content.

[edit] References

[edit] Externals links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Corylus avellana

Look up hazelnut in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

• Guide to Hazelnut Production Hazelnut Production Guide at Agriculture Guide
• Wild Foods