THE PLANET OF HAZELNUTS

Hazelnuts like other fruits are characterized on territoriality, the Piedmontese hold theirs to the sword but the Neapolitans and Latians also defend theirs as do the Sicilians.

However, some data are objective, such as the chemical conformation that differs and characterizes both flavor and fragrance, although many people do not consider it, but I think the real difference with Turkish hazelnuts or hazelnuts from other countries consists precisely in the fragrance of the flavor.

The choice of hazelnuts should be made according to the product you want to make; large hazelnuts are very nice to look at but small to medium-sized ones are much tastier and rich in essential oil.

People often make the mistake of considering hazelnuts from one area as equal, but there is no greater error, for example: the Piedmont hazelnuts that are produced in the lower reaches of the tanaro, and well-watered, are certainly larger and more beautiful, but the flavor is decidedly poor and the fragrance leaves something to be desired, while the sloping and poorly watered crops are less profitable but very fragrant and fragrant.

The consortium also pays a premium on the yield, which ranges from 42 to 46 percent i.e., from a qle of in-shell hazelnuts you get 42-46 kg of hazelnut kernels, however, this incentivizes irrigated crops that present a much lower quality in return.

Hazelnuts are stored in the shell until used however as the shelling mechanism is complex many shell and then store in cool, 15°C for the entire season following harvest.

Vacuum storage of both raw and roasted kernel is recommended.

Hazelnuts can be roasted in several ways, but two are the major ones, one by static roasting in a conventional kitchen or pastry oven on sheet pans for about 20-25 minutes in an oven preheated to 180 °C the other with dynamic rotary ovens or on hot air flow.

This method transmits heat evenly, and stirs the hazelnuts favoring the release of the film, the temperature drops to about 140°C, and the minutes vary depending on the amount the oven holds from 25 to 35 minutes, while the flow of hot air lifts the hazelnuts and toasts them in continuous motion rotation, and the time is decided by the speed of their transit in the furnace route.

With hazelnuts you can really make many specialties, from cakes with or without flour, personally I prefer those with flour as they are more balanced, too high a percentage of hazelnuts makes them cloying.

Spreads often use hazelnut as a pretext, but going into the ingredients we find the hazelnut in fourth or fifth place after sugar, fat and-or vegetable oil, cocoa, milk powder and then perhaps hazelnut at 12/13% , certainly in this case both quality and provenance become a detail since they would bring little flavor anyway, at which point flavor comes into play!

However, there are spreads that have high hazelnut contents, over 30, 40, 60 percent in these cases the quality of the hazelnut becomes crucial as the quantity being greater any defects would also be highlighted.

However, a good cream should contain some percentage of cocoa powder or chocolate, either milk or dark chocolate, which in any case with the strong presence of cocoa butter will tend to harden the consistency of the cream also making it not very spreadable.