Coconuts and pistachios, pecan nuts and almonds are not real nuts at all, but stone fruits. Peanuts are actually pulses, while Brazil nuts are seed capsules. And pine nuts are, in fact, seeds. However, the fruits of the common hazel (Corylus avellana) and the filbert (Corylus maxima), members of the birch family, are true nuts. (And for the record, walnuts, macadamia nuts and sweet chestnuts are also nuts.)

As far back as the Stone Age, hazel bushes, which can grow to a height of up to five metres, provided our ancestors in Europe and Asia Minor with an important supply of food. Nowadays, hazelnuts are cultivated in the temperate zones of Eurasia and the Americas, with almost two-thirds of the world’s annual production of 730,000 tonnes coming from Turkey.

Hazelnuts have been a popular ingredient in cakes and biscuits for centuries, but can also be found in bread, chocolate and nougat. In 1940, Pietro Ferrero from the Piedmont region of Italy blended cocoa and roasted hazelnuts to create a chocolate spread which he initially called Pasta Gianduja and which was rechristened Nutella in 1964.

Chopped hazelnuts added to muesli will boost your energy levels in the morning. They will also give a crunch to your salads. Combined with carrots, grated hazelnuts make a delicious soup, and mixed with ricotta they are the perfect filling for pastries. In France, hazelnut oil – which has only a short shelf life – is used in salad dressings, and butter mixed with hazelnuts accompanies asparagus and broccoli. In the USA, hazelnut butter is a popular replacement for peanut butter on toast and bread.

Check the best before date before you buy. Because of their high fat content, hazelnuts rapidly turn rancid and should therefore be stored in a cool, airy, dry, dark place. Hazelnuts in their shells should not rattle. Only old, dried-out nuts do this.

Try for yourself
You can find recipes using nuts here: