Simple Pleasures- Fresh Hazelnuts

A few summers back I saw my first hazelnuts growing on trees just outside of Gragnano, near Naples.
This year I was blessed with finding a tree on my friends property up in the hills outside of Florence.

the nuts on the tree, the grow in clusters of three

The above shot was from a couple of weeks ago when the nuts were still too green to pick.

the nuts have more color now and were ready

My husband braved the heat and harvested the hazelnuts for me and then armed with a rock and a piece of granite i amused myself in the afternoon shelling them.

I first removed the leafy green part, which was easier when the nuts where a little greener. Lightly touching them, they just popped out. The older darker ones, need to be nudged more.

simple tools

Took me awhile to get the pressure right on breaking open the nuts without shattering them.

Today I oven-roasted them.

Their profumo while cooling was irresistable and needless to say, my husband came and ate them all!!!
I had not finished rubbing off the brown paperlike husk, but it didn’t seem to bother him.

So, sorry- no recipe for the apple hazelnut cake i was going to make inspired by my foraging at my friends.

Will have to make a simple apple cake and post that this week.

It is a Tuscan classic and the apples I picked at my friends should be fabulous.

I have enough apples to make several recipes. I am also craving a nice bowl of cold applesauce!
Will use some also in my new juicer I am getting.
Spent the summer getting rid of my gout symptoms by drinking tons of water daily and taking pills.
Now want to shake up my life and am going to do a green juice cleansing diet thing.
Everyone seems to say that they get rid of so many symptoms, asma, allergies, aches and pains that it can’t hurt!

I can’t wait for this summer to be over. Horrid heat wave and drought.
Fall is my favorite season and I have so many great tours planned.
I will be down in Sicily for two weeks then back in Tuscany for a weeklong program
In October I have another weeklong program followed by my Slow Food Kansas City down to Campagna, Naples, Gragnano and Sorrento.
I have time to wash my clothes and then off to the Ecole Chocolate program we do yearly, this year in Lecco and Torino.
Then I will need a vacation. I am thinking to finally get to Istanbul and check out my roots.