# Hazelnuts



## HoppeEL4 (Dec 29, 2010)

It's getting to be hazelnut harvest time out here. Got my first pound or so, plant to go out and harvest a heck of a lot more than that.

We went down into the Willamette Valley yesterday to see our daughter (son-in-law) and the grandkids, and I started finding them in their front property. Plan to go back down there and gather more. While we were there I was out getting pears and plums from their trees (that my daughter could care little about, thinks its a waste of time) and some native blackberries. My mother and I have been picking the invasive blackberries (the Himalayan ones), they are good for making jam and all with, but our native stuff is superior taste, going to make a pie out of the little I found (they are being run out by the non-native Himalayans). 

Now with those hazelnuts. I cannot seem to find anything definitive on the green ones. My mother (73) swears she and her sister used to collect those and her grandmother would dry them (she said she thought they turned brown when they dried). I thought they had to be brown before dropping to the ground and being good...anyone know this one? I have a small dehydrator, or even though some screens in my oven on the warm setting could do it, but hate the idea of using the electricity to, maybe just a screen in the sun?


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## rhrobert (Apr 27, 2009)

Yes, you can pick them when they are still a bit green. Sometimes you have to, to beat the animals.

Here is a pdf put out by UCDavis you'll enjoy:
http://homeorchard.ucdavis.edu/8005.pdf


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## HoppeEL4 (Dec 29, 2010)

Thanks. I did find something from OSU extension service a while after I posted this. I am pretty anxious to go back down south of us to gather. Up here (we live in the foothills of the Cascades near Mount Hood) there are not as many hazelnut trees, so the few we do have get raided awful fast by squirrels and blue jays. The Willamette Valley is the U.S.'s main hazelnut grower anyways, the tree's are EVERYWHERE down there. Funny I mention this to people and so many will say "oh, I didn't know you could eat the wild ones"....I am amazed at people, they seem to think anything growing wild is not edible (so where did we get those domestic plants/tree's from anyway?...).

This always makes me think when things get even more tough than they are now financially, people are going to be at a loss of what to do. I know I have impressed on my kids that there is plenty of wild stuff out there that would keep them alive in the event of a system collapse, I believe even with my oldest (who is 30 and balks at outdoor stuff) would know what to do, I know she has at least listened and knows where this stuff is at, and would forage if it came to survival.


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## Onebigelf (Sep 17, 2011)

Just planted two American Hazelnuts in the back yard. We are OK as far as temperature zones, but I've never seen them grown in Florida. I'll just have to see how they do. I've got lemons, plums, grapes, and mulberries as well. Plan to add oriental pears, chestnuts, blackberries and blueberries as well. May plant some kiwi on the fence.

John


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## HoppeEL4 (Dec 29, 2010)

Ours grow here naturally, we don't even have to intentionally plant them. Let us know how it fares over time, I wonder if the warmer climate will do justice to it.

My daughter said her uncle-in-law had an almond tree in his yard, was producing as well (their actual latitude I don't know). I was surprised to find out almonds would grow this far north.


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## LilRedHen (Aug 28, 2011)

I have one in my backyard, it is about 10 years old and very large. I usually pick the nuts in their pods just before the first frost.


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## HoppeEL4 (Dec 29, 2010)

They wild elsewhere like they are here? I always assumed so, however, one site I looked into about them says they are wild in northern latitudes.


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## goshengirl (Dec 18, 2010)

I know they're native to Ohio, but I've rarely seen them in a wild setting. The other year our county's Soil and Water Conservation office was selling them, trying to reestablish native species. I planted several, and hopefully they'll take off here.


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## cowboyhermit (Nov 10, 2012)

We have tons of wild hazelnut bushes up here in central Alberta/Saskatchewan. Getting the nuts before the squirrels is the challenge, oh yeah don't forget gloves and long sleeved shirts


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## HoppeEL4 (Dec 29, 2010)

Cowboy, I'd bet up there. Cowboy, do you also have mountain huckleberries up there (wild blueberries basically)?


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## cowboyhermit (Nov 10, 2012)

HoppeEL4 said:


> Cowboy, I'd bet up there. Cowboy, do you also have mountain huckleberries up there (wild blueberries basically)?


I don't think we have those here, maybe closer to the mountains. Blueberries are pretty marginal on our property (not much acidic soil) but less than an hours drive away there are tons of them wild. I believe they are lowbush blueberries but never really checked on the variety for some reason.

We have more saskatoons than we can pick most years, they are one of the most common trees in our woods, I actually like them better but most people prefer blueberries I think.


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## HoppeEL4 (Dec 29, 2010)

I've seen photos of those, but never had them, they look a bit like blueberries, the leaves do too. Down here we have salal berries too and the Oregon Grape berries, both are supposedly good only for making jams with, as mainly they are not too palatable without some sugar in them.


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## cowboyhermit (Nov 10, 2012)

HoppeEL4 said:


> I've seen photos of those, but never had them, they look a bit like blueberries, the leaves do too. Down here we have salal berries too and the Oregon Grape berries, both are supposedly good only for making jams with, as mainly they are not too palatable without some sugar in them.


They are very similar to blueberries just a bit more fiber and a bit less juicy, and of course they grow into a tree so they can be tougher to pick sometimes. I know in some parts of the states they were called service berries but the ones I saw were a bit smaller, probably a different variety. I have spent a fair amount of time in British Columbia and never saw many west of the rockies, none near the coast:dunno: I think they don't like conifers or acidic soil maybe.
Just glanced at the hazelnuts and it looks like a pretty good year, might have to try and gather them myself after the frost.


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## HoppeEL4 (Dec 29, 2010)

Well if you can get into the mountains and get some huckleberries, they are great in pancakes. I also make syrup with them, which is phenomenal. Around here (we're below the Cascades) the main berry is blackberry. Some stupid settler brought in Himalayan Blackberries and they are terribly invasive, even choking out our own native blackberry. They will grow in huge thickets that can be as tall as 8-10 feet high. So I suppose if you have blackberries...make jam which is what my mother and I are doing this year. Gathering them up, freezing them till we're ready to make it in fall.

I picked native blackberries at my daughter and son-in-laws place and promised my 2 year old granddaughter a pie made out of them for this coming Saturday family gathering. I also have to use some of the hazelnuts, probably will make a blackberry pie with a hazelnut laced crust.


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## cowboyhermit (Nov 10, 2012)

HoppeEL4 said:


> Some stupid settler brought in Himalayan Blackberries and they are terribly invasive, even choking out our own native blackberry.


Same situation in British Columbia, vract: those things are nasty! But blackberries do taste great, we trade for some on occasion. No native blackberries here either, just tons of raspberries.


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## HoppeEL4 (Dec 29, 2010)

Cowboy, you likely have same ones we have at coast line are, down here people call them salmon berries (because of their orange color). Certain areas of the Oregon coast are loaded with them, I have yet to know when to take a trip over there to get them when they are in full harvest. Over here, near the Cascades, they are red, and short capped. We have two kinds of "blackberries" one is an actual wild blackberry (leaves are quite lacy looking) and the other is a black cap raspberry (fuller more raspberry like leaves). Then there are the red huckleberries (low elevation hucks).

However today is Himalayan harvest (again).


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