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Genus: Corylus (hazelnuts) Life
> eukaryotes >
Archaeoplastida >
Chloroplastida
>
Charophyta > Streptophytina > Plantae (land plants)
> Tracheophyta (vascular plants) > Euphyllophyta > Lignophyta (woody plants)
> Spermatophyta (seed plants) > Angiospermae (flowering
plants) > Eudicotyledons > Core Eudicots > Rosids >
Eurosid I > Order: Fagales > Family: Betulaceae
There are about 15 species in the genus, with an indigenous
distribution covering temperate regions of Europe, Asia and North America.
The hazelnuts we eat are derived mainly from two species of tree: the
European hazel Corylus avellana and the Filbert Corylus maxima.
There are also hybrids between the two and hybrids with other Corylus
species. Hazelnuts are an excellent source of magnesium, iron,
phosphorus, potassium and thiamin, and a good source of niacin. Hazelnuts
are eaten raw or roasted and are also used extensively in chocolate making,
baking and cooking.
Uses
- Hazelnuts can be eaten raw or roasted. The outer skin
of the nut is bitter-tasting and can be removed by first roasting the nuts
at 150°C in an oven for about 10-15 minutes and then wrapping the nuts in a
tea towel and rubbing them for about five minutes.
- Hazelnuts are often used in chocolates.
- Chopped hazelnuts add texture and taste to cakes,
cookies, breads, salads, soups and sauces.
- Finely ground nuts can be used as a substitute for
flour.
- Hazelnut paste consists of finely ground nuts mixed
with sugar.
- Hazelnut oil is derived from pressed hazelnuts and is
used in salad dressings, sauces, pastries and coffee.
- Hazel trees are coppiced for producing firewood and
poles. Coppicing is where the tree is cut down and branches grown from the
cut stump - these branches are harvested on a regular basis.
Publications
-
AliNiazee, M.T. 1998. Ecology and management
of hazelnut pests. Annual Review of Entomology 43: 395-419.
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Anon. 2002. Encyclopedia of Foods. A Guide
to Healthy Nutrition. Academic Press, San Diego, California.
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Zohary, D. & Hopf, M. 1993. Domestication
of plants in the old World - The origin and spread of cultivated plants in
West Asia, Europe, and the Nile Valley. Clarendon Press, Oxford.
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