So today I thought I'd have a lookee at my nuts! I decided to compare 3 different hazels, mine, Andrew's (allotment friend) and Turkey hazel (grown a lot by the council in ornamental planting)
First, the size...
Quite the difference! L to R (biggest to smallest), Andrew, me, Turkey hazel
And next the cracking
The turkey hazel split but mine and Andrew's were quite clean. No skin on the turkey.
The size of nut unsurprisingly reflected the size of the shell. Taste-wise, they were all quite nice but mine actually was the most hazely. This could've been because the other two were 'fresh'. I'd got the one from Andrew's plot on Friday after work and the turkey hazel whilst on a wander last night (there was a residential street covered in them!), whereas mine have been set out on a tray for a few weeks.
I got a tubful from Andrew's plot today - he'd collected loads around the same time I did mine (it was him who tipped me off they were ready). I spied some more in his trees from the path outside the allotments the other day and offered to collect them for him to save him the hassle (he moves himself around on the ground on the allot as he doesn't have use of his legs..amazing guy). I'll post a pic of the nuts tomorrow, they're rather large! Anyway we'll split the pickings. He said his last lot varied, some didn't have any kernel (? Is that what it's called) in and when he roasted some they were a bit mushy but he reckoned it might have been cause he didn't leave them to cure for a while first.
Well, we'll see how this next load turn out, I'll set them out on a tray for a while :)
Oh and I went to an open day at Norwich Farmshare yesterday, great place, I'll post soon about this. Also met Bob Flowerdew who was there to open the event and stayed around all day (he actually lives in Norfolk). Anyone who doesn't know, he's well renowned in organic gardening and is a regular on Radio 4s Gardner's Question Time. I have one of his books Grow your own, Eat your own, which is very good. I decide not to take this along to be signed!
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Do you know the names of yours and Andrews varieties if hazel. My Kent cobs are still drying off.
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately not, mine were leftover from someone planting a bit of a native wood, so probably a wild-ish variety, hence the size. Andrew's were from the city council, they provided the trees to plant up along the fence of his plot, to screen off the pavement. He also has hawthorn and blackthorn (with sloes this year!)
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