Hazelnuts - Description
Hazelnuts, or Lombard nuts, are called hazel fruits, a large type of deciduous woody shrubs of the Hazel family of the Birch family. The native land of hazelnuts is considered Asia Minor and the Caucasus. From there, he came to Europe, first to southern, then to northern, and later to America. Hazelnut nut, covered with a hard brown shell, has an oval or round shape and a length of 2 cm.
Under natural conditions, hazelnuts today grow in southeastern Europe and Asia Minor; The main areas of its cultivation in culture are Turkey, the Balkans, Italy, North America, southern France and Germany. When grown, it is not particularly demanding for weather conditions, however, for good yields it needs fertile soil and a sufficient amount of sunlight.
The most common varieties of hazelnuts include Badem, Crimean and Kerasund. Slightly different in appearance and thickness of the shell, they have exactly the same taste properties.
Hazelnuts - Useful Properties
Hazelnut contains oil consisting of organic acids (70%), protein (20%), vitamins B and E. It is also rich in minerals - potassium, calcium, iron, magnesium, etc. This composition makes the presence of hazelnuts in the diet very desirable children and people who recover from a long illness.
The most useful hazelnuts for the cardiovascular system, due to the high content of potassium and calcium, beneficial effects on blood vessels and smooth muscle of the heart. This nut helps to treat blood diseases, such as anemia. It is also indicated for diseases such as varicose veins, thrombophlebitis, various problems with capillaries. It helps to treat the prostate gland, strengthen the immune system, cleanse the body, especially the liver. The content in the hazelnut of an anticancer substance paclitaxel allows its use in the prevention of cancer. And due to the unique combination of vitamin E with protein, it favorably affects the growth and development of muscle tissue.
Hazelnut nut butter, mixed with egg white in equal proportions, is very effective against burns. Regularly rubbing it into the scalp, you can strengthen the hair and make it very beautiful.
However, this nut has contraindications. First of all, it should not be in the diet of people who have severe diabetes, atypical diathesis, chronic and severe liver disease, obesity. In this case, nutritionists warn that even for the rest, the daily rate of consumption of hazelnuts should not exceed 50 grams, so that it does not cause headaches, spasms of cerebral vessels, as well as overstraining of the stomach and intestines.
Hazelnuts - calories
The caloric content of hazelnuts is 704 kcal.
Hazelnuts - use in cooking
In the kitchen of almost every nation you can meet hazelnuts. It is used both raw and processed, using for the preparation of salads and sauces, vegetable dishes, seasonings for meat and fish.
With the use of hazelnuts also produce a variety of pastries: cakes, cookies, desserts, pastries, chocolate, candy, halvah and many other tasty products.
Recipe examples with hazelnuts
Recipe 1: Pear Dessert with Hazelnuts
Delicious and beautiful dessert, in which the tenderness of pears very well with a nutty flavor. Alcohol, which is used in this dessert, is not felt at all in the finished dish, but simply gives it a specific flavor.
Ingredients:
4 pears;
500 gr. port wine;
500 gr. Grenadine Syrup;
200 gr. Sahara; 2 tbsp. l lemon juice.
For the filling:
250 gr. chocolate;
150 gr. fat cream (from 30%);
100 gr. peeled and roasted hazelnuts.
Preparation:
1. After washing and peeling pears, we clean the core from them. Put the pears in the pan. Mixing the syrup with port, sugar and lemon juice, pour this mixture into a saucepan with pears and cook it on low heat for about 5 minutes.
2. Having melted chocolate, add cream and nuts to it. Then, taking the pears out of the pan and chilling, fill them with a mixture of cream and chocolate. Serve, laid out on a beautiful dish.
Recipe 2: Homemade candies with hazelnuts
Even if you do not consider yourself a sweet tooth, these soft and fragrant candies made of hazelnuts, waffles, butter and chocolate will not leave you indifferent.
Ingredients:
400 gr. waffles;
1 cup roasted hazelnuts;
50 gr. chocolate;
100 gr. drain oils;
50 gr. cocoa powder.
Preparation:
1. We grind nuts in the combine to a powdery state. Then chop the waffles and add them to the nuts along with cocoa, mix everything well and set aside 3 tbsp from this mixture. l
2. Having melted butter with chocolate, pour them to crushed waffles with nuts and carefully knead the candy mass. Then we form round candies from it. Roll them in nuts with waffles, which we pour, put the candies on the dish and set to cool for an hour, after which our homemade candies with hazelnuts are ready.
Recipe 3: Light hazelnut cookies
Very often, the desire to eat something tasty meets resistance from our unwillingness to consume extra calories. If you are also familiar with such contradictions, try making hazelnut cookies according to our recipe. For its preparation you will need nuts, brown sugar and egg white - in a word, products that will allow you to pamper yourself completely without damage to the figure! Ingredients:
2/3 cup of hazelnuts;
1/3 cup walnuts;
70 gr. brown sugar;
1 raw egg white.
Preparation:
1. Do not chop the hazelnuts and walnuts too finely, then, adding sugar to them, mix the mixture well.
2. Beat the protein well, add it to the mixture of nuts and sugar and mix everything well.
3. Cover the baking sheet with confectionery paper. Then, spreading the mixture on it with a spoon, form small cookies and bake them in a well heated oven for about 10 minutes.
Hazelnuts - useful tips from experienced chefs
You should not buy peeled hazelnuts by weight, as it may be contaminated with dangerous mold fungi. Nut kernels with dark spots and musty aroma may indicate their presence. In this case, it is not always easy to recognize the fungus, so it is better to buy hazelnuts in the shell.
If there is no opportunity to buy unpeeled hazelnuts, it is better to choose nuts in bags. However, here it is important not to make a mistake and not to buy a fake instead of a quality product. It can even give out packaging. For example, reliable manufacturers do not produce hazelnuts in transparent sachets, as under the influence of light it can quickly deteriorate. Acquire should be nuts, packaged no more than 6 months ago. Do not be too lazy to pay attention to such subtleties, you buy real high-quality hazelnuts and you can cook your best dishes with it!
