beaked hazelnuts

Corylus cornuta

Groves of them are scattered all over the property… what of it we’ve managed to explore, anyway. I’ve heard conflicting reports about when they’re ready for harvest, although each came with a warning of the competition we would have from various rodents, squirrels, birds and even a boring insect.

In light of this we opted to pick a sack a little early, to ensure we got enough to do a test roast. We plan to do a number of pickings and roastings to determine when our residential plants are ready and how they are best stored. Despite being anywhere from two to four weeks early a like-minded creature was similarly ensuring it got its share.

The hazelnuts also provides us with some helpful indicators about the surrounding landscape. This understory shrub is a close associate of some of the other fruiting shrubs we’d like to harvest from, including Low Bush Honeysuckle, Chokecherry and Late Low Blueberry. Hazelnuts are also accumulators of calcium and manganese, their leaf litter serving to fertilize the forest around them.