I have no idea if this will work and I'm sure it wasn't worth the effort but it seemed like a good idea at the time (which was several weeks ago) mainly because it's such a rare thing for the squirrels to leave hazelnuts long enough for them to ripen and fall off the tree.
I picked up all this lot and spent an age shelling them - lots were hollow
I ended up with just these
So I went and searched among the leaves on the ground picked up some more, took another age shelling them, added them to the tray and popped them all in a cool oven for a couple of hours.
Then layered them in a jar with salt, something I have plenty of due to buying a gi-normous bag full from Approved Food about 5 years ago.
The instructions came from the book I picked up at the book sale 'How to store your garden produce' by Piers Warren.
I'll keep them for a while to see what happens - edible or mouldy?
Back tomorrow
Sue
Could they be roasted and frozen? However you do this, I hope it is successful. Hazelnuts are so wonderful. The Hungarian toasted hazelnut cake is so beyond delicious.
ReplyDeleteHow absolutely wonderful to have your own home grown hazelnuts! Fingers crossed.
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That is a good haul. I picked up enough for a bowl full and just sat at the kitchen table with g.children, cracked them and ate them, quite a few duds though. Hope they taste good.
ReplyDeleteWell worth a try Sue, they would all cost a fortune in the shops. xx
ReplyDeleteFirst of all, well done on beating the squirrels to the nuts! I'm sure they'll be delicious.
ReplyDeleteLovely, Sue. Last year we roasted the few our squirrels left us with and then just kept them in a jar in the fridge - they were really tasty in a fruit pie and just nibbled on!
ReplyDeleteHazels seem to have done well this year. There are quite a few around the estate and every one has a crop underneath - I have never seen a squirrel here. They don't look anywhere near ripe though.
ReplyDeleteIt is interesting to see all the things from nature that we can produce something from. I think it is fun, even if it takes time to make it!
ReplyDeleteI melt chocolate and mix the hazelnuts in to coat them. No chance then that they get stored because once the chocolate is set, I eat them!! Unfortunately, as lovely as Tanya's roasted ones sound, they wouldn't last either!
ReplyDeleteWe had a hazel in the garden of our last house, the blasted grey squirrels got all the nuts though. Oddly, there are no squirrels here at all - not that I mind!
ReplyDeleteI'll be interested in how this works. I always thought if they were dry they'd store. I'm going to purge the squirrels here next year, there's been a carpet of nut shells everywhere, and I'm gutted that I get to eat none of them.
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