Hazelnut: How healthy are hazelnuts?
The hazelnut is a popular ingredient for numerous delicacies – from cookies and macaroons to liqueur and hearty dishes such as hazelnut spaetzle. But the nuts are also eaten raw as a snack or in muesli. Hazelnuts are considered extremely healthy. For people with allergies or excessive consumption, however, they can also have negative health consequences. We provide information about the nutritional value of hazelnuts and give tips on buying, eating and preparing them.
n and store with sufficient ventilation, for example in a box or basket. If they are packed airtight, they will mold faster. You can recognize moldy nuts by their musty or bitter taste. The color can also be darker. Sometimes fungal spores are also visible on the surface.
If the nuts are already crushed or ground, you should note the best-before date on the package. The opened pack of chopped nuts will keep fresh for about a month in the refrigerator.
Dry hazelnuts
Hazelnuts can also be dried. To do this, lay out the nuts in their shells on a board or tray and store in a dry, warm place. It takes about six weeks for the nuts to dry. In between, they should be turned regularly.
Hazelnut: Leaves in tea and blanched
In addition to the hazelnuts themselves, the leaves of trees and bushes are also used in the kitchen. The leaves of all varieties of the common hazelnut are edible.
As a component of tea, the essential oils are said to help against gastrointestinal complaints. Hazelnut leaves also contain the plant sterol beta-sitosterol. In higher concentrations, it is said to have a positive effect on cholesterol levels.
Hazelnut leaves can also be blanched. To do this, boil the leaves very briefly in boiling salted water and then rinse with cold water. In this form, they go well as a side dish with game meat, for example.
Roast and peel the hazelnuts
If you want to remove the brown skin from the hazelnuts, you first have to roast them in a pan. The nuts should be turned regularly so that they do not burn. If the outer skin of the nuts bursts, you can pour them onto a clean tea towel. Then fold the kitchen towel over the nuts and gently roll them back and forth with your hands. The shell will peel off the hazelnuts.
Plant and harvest hazelnuts
Hazelnuts have been cultivated in Germany since the Middle Ages. A hazelnut bush should be planted in a sunny location. Hazelnut bushes are so-called “cross-pollinators”. In order to bear fruit, they need another shrub of a different variety for pollination, but one that flowers at the same time.
Popular varieties are the corkscrew hazelnut, flat cellulosic nuts or cylindrical lamberts nuts. Some hazelnut varieties have a red shell. All cultivated hazelnuts as well as wild hazelnut varieties are edible.
Depending on the variety, hazelnuts can be harvested in September or October.