Tuesday, September 05, 2006

Beaked Hazelnuts




Hasty Brook is thick with beaked hazelnuts. They grow well in shade under old growth trees. Nut production goes up with available sun. The bushes along our road have really taken off and we've enjoyed watching the nut crop grow.




When we went up there last week this was all we found of the bumper crop and an insect got the nut before a four-footed critter could!



I hope he enjoys the nuts!

5 comments:

LauraHinNJ said...

Great link. I like that they iclude *associative* species - your hazelnuts won't grow here because none of the other stuff on that list does either.

Do you snack on these raw (if the squirrels save any) or should they be toasted first?

Anonymous said...

Bummer you didn't get to eat any hazelnuts at all such a the large crop. Sounds like me with my Shagbark Hickory nuts - I'd like to try one some year - I hear they're wonderful, but the squirrels get to them first.

Anonymous said...

Oops, please excuse the first sentence in my comment above. I meant to say:
Bummer you didn't get to eat any hazelnuts at all with such a large crop.

Lynne at Hasty Brook said...

Laura-
I think they can be eaten raw, but they are nasty to open. There are very sticky, stiff hairs on the outside of the hulls. They didn't cause any burning, but were NOT comfortable. Maybe we'll try gloves next year.

Pam-
From what I've read, these hazelnuts are favorites of red squirrels, deer, bears and grouse. We've seen all but the bears at Hasty. I'm not sure we have much of a chance of harvesting any! (According to the MN DNR, our area has the highest number of bear hunting permits issued and the highest bear harvest density.)

LauraHinNJ said...

Be careful of the bears, Lynne!