i roasted mine for 30 min. right in the shell at 350 in the oven. they came out great. dried the shell out some so they crack easier.
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We only got a handful, but I roasted them in a fire until the shells cracked from escaping steam. Some of them popped so violently I lost them though. I didnât wait for them to dry, just roasted right off the bush. Mine were small and roasted very quickly in fire.
In the future Iâd use a pan with lid to roast them over a fire or roast them more slowly in an oven to prevent popping nuts from escaping.
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Yes my wild American hazels both release pollen early. The Select One American Hazel I got from Oikos however is a mid to late pollen release. For some reason American hazel tassels do better in Texas, and that includes being more strongly attached to the plant when very high winds come which is a big issue here. Yamhill is the exception for European hazels that have made tassels for me so far. The Yamhill tassels are also strongly attached to the plant so hold in the winds, but they also just look different too, fatter and shorter when immature which may be why they hang on better in the winds, just something different about their tassels compared to other European ones I have. A lot of my other European Hazels have not made tassels yet so I donât know if this is very unique, or just different from the ones I have seen like Bacelona, Theta, and Dorris so far. An update on the Beast which has part American genetics, it has indeed grown like a beast and reached 10 feet tall this year but no flowers at all. And it looked like no tassels yet either which was puzzling. Finally late summer saw some tassels develop way up top. If they make it to next summer I might have an ideas of when the pollen is released and if it handles wind. According to those who developed it the Beast seems to have a mid to late season pollen release. So that might be a consideration. My Grand Traverse looks to have a tassel or two this year developing for the first time, I am wondering what the Turkish hazel genetics will mean for tassels in the Texas environment. Hopefully find out next summer. While waiting to find out if Dorris, Tonda di Giffoni and Sommersett will be good nut producers here, I am putting in a couple more Yamhills this winter since they work and Dorris and Somerset have not produced yet.
As an aside I read about the Rutgers varieties supposedly flowered at a young age. My Raritan and Somerset are now like 4 feet tall and no flowers and no tassels. Others varieties have flowered by this point. So far for me they are not flowering young. I mean my Grand Traverse is the same age and had its first flower last year, have Yamhills even younger and they are flowering already. A little frustrated with that. Hopefully next year. Always could be a Texas thing, you never know if the heat is doing it though⌠Hope that Somerset works like hoped, vegatatively it grows well here, it would suck if it flowered poorly. I mean I hope good plant growth means the flowers will be robust, but of course this is not a guarantee. Anyway, if we have a mild winter, flowering will start in late December so for some varieties i donât have long to wait. If cold then could be February. Another aside flowering and pollen release times here are compressed compared to Origon. Origonâs early, mid and late are something like late December to march March. So far, a mild winter here would be late December to early February. for flowering and pollen, early to late. But if we have a cold winter here and freezes it is still compressed but shifted in timing, flowering and pollen might start late January instead. I assume you have variable winters there too? So maybe relevant.
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Thanks
This is a current picture of my hazel seedling posted in June. There was so many in the container they only grew to about 12" plus or minus. They all looked healthy throughout the growing season. Itâs possible that all these are hybrids.
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Just checking in. Iâm sending you a message.
Why do you roast only the hazelnuts to be eaten within a few days?
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Itâs not strictly necessary, but theyâll taste fresher that way.
Hazelnuts are over 50% oil, and unrefined oils become a lot less stable when theyâre heated (the oil separates from the starch in the nut and the fatty acids in the oil separate. The separation makes everything oxidize more readily). So, once theyâve been roasted they will go rancid faster.
I always keep nuts in the fridge and roast them immediately before I intend to use them. But you can store them roasted for weeks or months and theyâll still be pretty good. I rarely use fewer than 100g. at a time, so I wasnât thinking about if people only eat a few, but I guess before I should have added that if you only eat like five nuts a day, donât worry about roasting five at a time.
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My hazelnuts lost fall leaves and started growing new leaf buds and one even has some pollen sacks.
Itâs been a mild Winter so far.
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**Awesome answer - I learned important info about the oils in nuts! I had been thinking about roasting nuts in the same way as blanching vegetables: it ends their enzymatic processes. I harvested about 2c of nutmeats from my frontyard hazelnut shrubs.
After shucking, deshelling, and roasting, I stored them in a canning jar in fridge. They are Very Special to me! A bit soft but quite tasty.
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I tasted McDonald and Tonda Di Giffoni hazelnuts. The flavor difference was small. The McDonald tasted more âAmericanizedâ familiar in the form of what might be in a chocolate bar, trail mix, or breakfast cereal. It is a product of Oregon State University. The Tonda Di Giffoni tasted like it would pair well with savory foods including Italian meats and sauces and it was less âsweetâ. I would prefer the flavor of the Tonda Di Giffoni because it was more unique.
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Does anyone have catkins or female flowers open? I started seeing shed right before new years.
Hunterdon, and Raritan have started shedding, and The Beast has some female flowers out. Should be a decent hardiness test for them.
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I want to go this route as well with native hazelnuts in my chicken run. Where did you get your Winkler from?
Are there any other (somewhat) improved 100% American hazelnuts out there?
burnt ridge nursery carries it
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make sure you grow blight resistant hybrids here in the east. pure euros will likely be killed here. grimo nut nursery has alot of good hybrids as well as some asian genetics.
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Iâm sticking with pure native American hazels for now.
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