Just so happens to be that the chocolatiers prefer a nut 1-1.3 mm in size.
Fits better in candy bars.
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Right you are. 
To be honest, my only issue with the size is how many I have to crack to get a handful. Or in terms of physics: energy expended vs energy gained. (Hazelnuts turn on my rodent brain…)
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I’ve got a planting of about 10 hybrid seedlings I got from Z’s nutty ridge 5-6 years ago. Here’s a couple nuts I harvested today off of the (current) most promising candidate for propagation. I’m just having a hard time finding photos to help me scale them. Do these look like a decent size for a hybrid to you guys?
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I have all sorts of different phenotypes popping up from those prodigy series. Some are very large, some that release from husks all at once+, some are singles and some are 5-6 nuts per husk. Right now Im saving them for seed, and taking down notes from the ortet and looking for thin shells.
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I could definitely stand to improve on the note taking on my end 
Any real standouts? It has been fun to see the differences in how the plants themselves are growing, lots of variation in vigor and growth/suckering habits. Although I’m only 2 years into any of them producing at all.
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I would like to try some hazelnuts, they won’t be in super protected spots. I was thinking 25 of these
Or these
I have no clue what would be best I have the space to plant a lot of them, but I’m sorta a cheap person, any other suggestions to consider?
Others have had good luck with the seedlings, some will have very large nuts and some will be small, you can spread the suckers of the ones you like over time.
If you want improved varieties the new rutgers releases Raritan, Somerset and Monmouth, also Cortland and Finger Lakes Abundant (not Rutgers I think). These newer varieties are more disease resistant to the eastern strains of blight versus older varieties that are only resistant against the blight strain found out west
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Get some seeds from Z’s nutty ridge or from grimos in canada. Grimos farris and alex open pollinated crosses produce nice large elongted nuts.
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I’d go with the Burnt Ridge euro’s. You need them to get a little height or deer will tear them up. All of mine are leafless up to about six feet and I had to cage them to get them past that.
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These re my euros from Burnt Ridge. Top to bottom:
Barcelona, Theta, Jefferson, Gamma, Sacajawea
Barcelona was once the standard commercial variety. However, because of its only moderate resistance to blight, it’s been replaced with more blight immune (for West Coast) varieties.
I’m impressed with Theta’s comparable size. Theta also drops easily from husk.
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Make sure they a efb resistant.
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I haven’t got any nuts from my Theta yet. I wasn’t expecting the large size nuts. There were a few empty nuts and I thought it was odd that there wasn’t much of a cover over them. Less cover I’m guessing is why the nuts fall out easily.
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@Auburn
I realized after I posted that most of those on this thread are not west coast growers …so wfb recommendations may have little value. Are you able to grow the Burnt Ridge euros without any problem?
Nutty Ridge and Grimos do not ship to west coast so haven’t been able to try out their selections.
Btw my Polly O, Dorris, and Wepster have not fruited yet. I’m wondering how they will compare. Do you have any of these?
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The Sacajawea variety is used in a couple Rutgers varieties as a source of horizontal tolerance with its Rush gene and excellent quality.
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Currently I’m growing Theta, York, Jefferson, and I added a couple of grafts of Eta to help with pollinating. I also have an American that is probably a seedling. It was also added for pollen. The seedling is full of very small nuts that I will probably donate to the birds if they can eat them. Hoping to get a few to sample next year.
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How much smaller are the Americans compared to the others?
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The nuts are starting to release easily when peeled so I assume that they are mature. I’m estimating that the nuts are about dime size.
@Robert
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American hazelnut seedling planted 20210305 for pollen exchange only. This bush is the only one to have viable nuts this year. Small nuts but when their the only ones you have, I picked them anyway (about 2 gallons).
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I manned a display at a convention and my buddy roasted a bunchbof the Americana and they were delicious
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