General Chat

I got o.h. a hazel tree and it is huge now, about 14 ft tall and had lots of nuts but the squirrel came, took some, and more ended up on the ground as it's been windy and heavy rain. O.h. has had a few and more are in a bowl in the greenhouse for some reason.

Lizx

I agree with you Sandie, hazelnuts dried?
I love hazelnuts - but it's becoming more and ore difficult to buy them!
Friend and I went on a determined effort last year in augus - they were delicious.
We forgot to go this year - there seems to be a small time frame to picking them before the blithering squirrels get them!
My daughter bought me a hazel tree a couple of years ago. It's in an enormous pot. I had 6 on there - then all of a sudden I had1 - no fallen ones about - and I haven't got squirrels or rats, I've got 3 cats!

Used to pick hazel nuts for mum to gring up and put in the christmas cakes and puddings, along with carrot and mixed fruit.

Susan, my baking day is next Saturday LOL, though I have chopped some up and put them in my Sage,Onion and Apricot stuffing to go with the piece of pork in the oven.LOL
Gwynn, nothing so interesting to pick when we were kids except potato pickin'
Julia in Derbyshire

Yes Julia,
You are correct: about them being the same family)

Same family ,but cob nuts are rounder and tend to be drier, but I've only tried cob nuts from the supermarket, not fresh like the hazel nuts , so perhaps I eat them younger when they tend to be juicier ! Dad always liked them older.

I would disagree with the fact that ordinary Hazel nuts are imported, dried nuts, not in my neck of the woods anyway !! I never buy them just pick them :)
Maybe fresh hazel nuts are not available to townsfolk, shame for them:)
Sandie.x

Those recipes sound interesting, mmm.!

I went to an open air food fair in Canterbury yesterday and they had cobnuts and other nuts for sale.
There was alot of tempting produce made from other Kent crops too.

As children in Hampshire we always went chestnutting. Our parents walked us miles and we thought it was great.


Gwyn

Oh thankyou for the invite Julia. I will just grab my coat and make my way over!

I saw these for sale in M****sons the other week, and thought I'd get some, but kept forgetting. Then in yesterday's Telegraph, Weekend supplement they did a feature, and some recipes. This is the write-up.
"To say a cobnut is a hazelnut, is like calling champagne just like a sparkling wine. True, both nuts are members of the same family, although cobnuts arer bigger. But, ordinary hazelnuts are an imported dried nut, available year round. Fat round cobnuts are a fresh seasonal British nut. These days, the centre of production is the Kentish triangle"
Anyway, the recipes looked interesting, eg. Cobnut and Damson Crumble, and Pear and Cobnut Cake, so the OH fetched me some this morning. They are very nice, once shelled, and have a softer texture like chestnuts have. I have just roasted them, ready to make the recipes.
Just in case anybody fancies trying them.

Julia in Derbyshire

Hazelnuts to me Julia ,Cobs to OH lol
The flipping squirrels have had the blooming lot from our tree!!!!!!!!.Given the chance ,I love them.

They are what we call Hazel nuts.
They are indeed beautiful.
We don't have trees of such where I live now, but when I lived' at home' with mum and dad we used to go 'Nutting' and used to have bagfuls.
I left home at 21, dad still used to go nutting and I'd end up with bagfuls, he used to leave a box of some on the floor in the kitchen and his dog used to take them, crack the nut and eat the kernel... shell left on the floor, clever dog.
Dad used to go mushroom picking at about 7am in the morning when he was well into his 80's, climbing styles etc to go up the mountain for his precious mushrooms, they did taste exotic tho!!
Sandie.

No never ate them but my children used to say that any kids scrapping at School gave each other a cobnut. lol

Teresa:)

Anybody 'ad 'em. The're larvely LOL
Julia in Derbyshire