Welcome to the summary page for FabulousFusionFood's Wild Food guide to Hazel along with all the Hazel containing recipes presented on this site, with 104 recipes in total.

These recipes, all contain Hazel as a major wild food ingredient.

The Common Hazel, Corylus avellana, (also known as Cobnut, Hazel, Common filbert, European Filbert, Harry Lauder's Walking Stick, Corkscrew Hazel, Hazelnut) is a species of hazel and a member of the Betulaceae (beech) family. This deciduous shrub (which rarely grows more that 7m tall) is native to Europe and Asia. It bears dark green leaves that are rounded, 6–12 cm long and across, softly hairy on both surfaces, and with a double-serrate margin. It is the hazel that bears the classic catkins (also known as 'lambs' tails' of early spring (though these can appear any time from December to April. The plant is monoecious (ie bears separate male and female flowers on the same plant) with the female flowers being very small and largely concealed in the buds, with only the bright red 1-3 mm long styles visible. The fruit is a true nut, produced in clusters of one to five with each nut held in a leafy husk (an involucre) that encloses up to 3/4 of the nut. The nut falls from the involucre when ripe (generally in October) some eight months after pollination. In reality, as wildlife also love hazelnuts you are in competition with a range of species to collect when ripe. You can pick them when they’re green and leave them to ripen in a warm, dry, dark place, like an airing cupboard. Remember to move them often and remove the hard outer shell before eating.

The common hazel is an important component of traditional hedgerows where they were interleaved to form impenetrable boundaries to domestic livestock. The wood was also traditionally grown as a coppice with poles used for wattle-and-daub housing as well as for agricultural fencing. Common Hazel is cultivated for its nuts in commercial orchards in Turkey, Europe, China and Australia. This hazelnut or cobnut, the kernel of the seed, is edible and used raw or roasted, or ground into a paste. When collecting your own clean with a dry cloth and leave the nuts in their shells, they will then keep over winter and only need to be cracked open for use. Hazelnuts work well in both sweet (pralines and chocolate) or savory dishes (they can be used in salads, stews and even make a flour if roasted and ground). They also make a refreshing drink if ground in a blender and mixed with milk. In the 15^th century the leaves were used to make a highly-spiced pork stew called 'Noteye' (literally 'nutty', a recipe derived from HARLEIAN MS 279 c 1420; see the links below for the recipe).

I can personally attest that the pollen (which can be collected throughout March and April) is edible and if you have three or four trees nearby is worth foraging for and can be used as a flour additive to increase the protein content. It works well in pancakes, muffins, cakes, biscuits and even bread. To collect, place a bag over several catkins on a sunny day and shake them to release the pollen. You should get a visible cloud. Repeat until you've collected enough to cook with. The male flowers or catkins are also edible (just) they contain about 20% protein, mostly from the pollen and pollen cells but need to be treated with an osmotic agent (sugar!) to break down the cell walls and make them more digestible. They can be used in the preparation of both sweet savoury dishes and, even better they're out and mature from later February through early March when not many other edibles are available.

The hazelnut is delicious eaten raw or cooked, though for children they are more digestible if toasted or roasted first. The nuts can be ground to a flour and this can be used in the same way as ground almonds for preparing breads, cakes, biscuits and sweets (candies). The nuts can also be liquidized in water to make hazelnut milk. Pressing the nuts yields a clear, yellow, edible oil which is excellent used in salad dressings or as an oil in baking and cake making.

References:

[1]. David Evans Notes from field observations, tastings and cookery experiments.
[2]. Huxley, A. The New RHS Dictionary of Gardening. 1999
[3]. Tanaka, T. Tanaka's Cyclopaedia of Edible Plants of the World.
[4]. Lim T.K. Edible Medicinal And Non-Medicinal Plants, Vols 1–12.
[5]. Thomas, G. S. Perennial Garden Plants, 2004
[6]. Milner, E. Trees of Britain and Ireland, 2011
[7]. Rose, F. & O'Reilly, C. The Wild Flower Key (Revised Edition) — How to identify wild plants, trees and shrubs in Britain and Ireland, 2006
[8]. Streeter, D. & Garrard, I. The Wild Flowers of the British Isles, 1983
[9]. Clapham, A.R.; Tutin, T.G. & Moore, D.M. Flora of the British Isles, 1987
[10]. Phillips, R. Mushrooms, 2006
[11]. Jordan, P. & Wheeler, S. The Complete Book of Mushrooms: An Illustrated Encyclopedia of Edible Mushrooms, 2011
[12]. Bunker, F. Seaweeds of Britain and Ireland, Second Edition, 2017
[13]. Facciola, S. Cornucopia II — A Source Book of Edible Plants, 1998
[14]. Hartford, R. Edible and Medicinal Wild Plants of Britain and Ireland: A Foraging and Photographic Identification Guide
(Note that the above book links are Amazon Affiliate links)