How to dry the hazelnuts? When hazelnuts ripen

How to dry hazelnuts at home? This question is especially often asked by those who randomly find hazel with a lot of tasty and useful fruits. That is why we decided to dedicate this article to this topic.

Beneficial features

A few people know how useful hazelnuts are. After all, most people appreciate and use such a product solely for its excellent taste. But before telling you how to dry the hazelnuts, you should tell what properties they have.

The fact is that the hazel fruits contain about 60% of the oil in which the organic acids are found. In addition, the hazelnuts contain vitamins E and B, as well as magnesium, iron, potassium, calcium and other minerals. Such fruits contain about 20% protein. That is why they are recommended for those who follow a vegetarian diet or are depleted after a long illness.

Hazelnut and medicine

At what diseases should you eat a hazelnut (photos of fruits you can see in this article)? Experts argue that such a product especially helps those who have problems with the cardiovascular system. So, calcium and potassium, which are present in the nuts, positively affect the walls of the smooth muscles of the heart and blood vessels, helping them for a long time to remain elastic.

It should also be noted that hazelnuts are very often prescribed to patients with blood diseases (for example, with anemia). Useful properties of such fruits help cure thrombophlebitis, varicose veins, problems with capillaries, trophic ulcers of the lower leg and so on. In addition, the hazelnut provides real help in reducing immunity and increasing the prostate gland.

One can not but note the fact that hazel fruits are often used to prevent putrefactive processes and purify the entire body. In view of the small amount of carbohydrates, this nut is recommended for patients suffering from diabetes mellitus.

Hazelnut and hazelnut: fruit difference

In culinary recipes it is often said that it is recommended to add only hazelnuts or, on the contrary, hazelnuts to this or that dish. In this regard, the housewife often raises the question, what exactly is the difference between these fruits?

The fact is that the hazelnut (or so-called hazel) is a product that people collect in the forest. It should be noted that this is a rather unprofitable way of collecting fruits. In this regard, confectionery with such a nut are very expensive. As for hazelnuts, this is a "cultivated" hazel. At the moment there are quite a few varieties of these fruits. In our country they bring mainly Turkish hazelnuts. This crop is very fruitful, although real hazelnuts are much more useful, since they contain much more vitamins and minerals.

When to collect?

The first question, asked by people who decided to stock up this product for the winter, is as follows: when the hazelnuts ripen? According to experts, this depends entirely on the natural and climatic conditions of the place where the hazel grows. But, as a rule, this period falls on July-September. Of course, you can also collect green, that is, unripe hazelnuts. After all, even they have those useful properties, which we described above. But you can save them for not more than one month. In this regard, experienced professionals recommend to harvest only mature fruits.

So when is the hazelnut sung? A clear sign of the maturity of such fruits is the brown, and sometimes even yellowish, color of the peel. It should be noted that such nuts are found in the forest at the end of August. But the fruits continue to ripen until the middle of September. Thus, in early October, the nuts overripe and begin to crumble massively from the branches, marking the end of the harvest.

How to collect hazelnuts?

When we collect such fruits, we told just above. And how exactly should this procedure be carried out? Gather such fruits in the same way as walnuts. Under the hazel nut spread a soft and light fabric, and then strongly begin to shake the tree. As a result of such actions, the ripe fruits fall down, and you only have to sort out the product from garbage and other inedible elements.

Cleaning hazelnuts at home

After harvesting, you will certainly have a new question about how to clear the hazelnuts? It should be noted that this does not take a lot of time. However, this procedure requires special care. Otherwise, you can damage the kernel, which prevents you from retaining all the useful properties in it.

So, to clean the hazelnut you need to prepare a soft, but not very thick fabric and a small hammer. By the way, to choose a material for such a procedure follows from the calculation that in the future you just throw it away.

Thus, a soft cloth should be spread on a flat and hard surface (for example, on a board), and then put a nut on it. After that, it is recommended to close the product with the second end of the material and, holding it with your left hand, with a slight movement, hit a small insect hammer. As a result, the nut should split, and the core should remain intact.

What is the fabric for, you ask? This procedure can be carried out without soft material. But in this case there is a possibility that the shells from the hazel fruits will scatter in different directions. Moreover, as a result of this you can suffer yourself (for example, if a piece of shell falls into your eye).

Features of storage

How can you keep the hazelnuts until the winter? When we collect such fruits and how to clean them, we told a little bit earlier. But to save this product, it needs to be properly processed. It should be specially noted that for such a procedure there is no need to first clean the hazelnut from the shell. In other words, the previous stage of preparing a tasty and nutritious product can be omitted. Although some drying methods require mandatory cleaning of the fruit. But first things first.

Basic methods of drying the hazelnut

Few people know how to dry hazelnuts at home. And it should be noted that today there are so many ways of pre-treatment hazelnut. This is due, above all, to the fact that only dried nuts can please you with a long shelf life and maximum safety of useful substances. That is why, after you have collected a rich harvest, you should definitely take care of its thorough drying.

So, at present, hazelnuts can be dried in several ways:

• In the electric dryer (can be purchased at almost any hardware store);
• In a frying pan;
• in the sun;
• In the oven.

To understand how to dry the hazelnuts correctly, let's talk about each of the methods presented in more detail.

Drying the hazelnuts in a frying pan

How does this happen? How to fry hazelnuts with a conventional frying pan and kitchen appliance? To do this, the collected fruits must be cleaned from the shell. Next, the nut needs to be poured onto the heated frying pan, after lowering the fire to a minimum. Stirring constantly, it is necessary to fry the fruit for 3 or 5 minutes. This is quite enough to increase the shelf life of the product and at the same time keep all its useful properties in it.

Drying the fruit in the electric dryer

This is a special device that is designed to dry fruit, vegetables and nuts. This device is sold in almost every hardware store. And if you are an avid gardener who annually harvests large crops, then the presented device will help you to save the products harvested from your own bed, as well as hazelnuts.

So, for this we need only the shelled fruits of hazel. This is due to the fact that such electrical appliances are not designed for a very high temperature, which is extremely necessary for drying fruits in the skin.

Thus, dry the nuts with an electric dryer for 5-6 hours. Periodically, the fruit is recommended to be mixed so that they are treated more evenly.

Dry the nuts in the oven

If you decide to dry hazelnut (hazelnut) in the oven, then it is not necessary to clean it from the shell first. After all, with the help of such a kitchen device, it is possible to achieve an even treatment of all the fruits in the peel.

To carry out this procedure, the collected nuts must be laid out on a baking tray, and then sent to a preheated oven (about 120 degrees). It takes several hours to sustain fruit in this state. If you decide to dry the peeled nuts, then the temperature should be lowered to 90 degrees.

Drying the hazelnut in the sun

This method can be used only if the sun remains warm in the region where you live, after the harvest was harvested. By the way, it is recommended to process hazelnuts in the open air. That is why this method of drying is most suitable for villagers. After all, if you put the fruits on the balcony, near which there is a lively motorway, then the useful properties of the product is out of the question.

So, if conditions permit, then the collected nuts should be spread out in a thin layer on a clean sheet of paper, and then place it in a sunny and well-ventilated place. However, it should be noted that at night, as well as during rain, the product must be brought into the room. Otherwise, the fruit can quickly collect excess moisture. In a few days, such drying nuts will be completely ready.

How to store dried hazelnuts?

As mentioned above, a long shelf life with maximum safety of all useful substances boasts only well-ripening and dried out hazelnuts.

If you have previously cleaned the hazelnut from the shell, and then thoroughly treated it in a frying pan, the sun, in an electric dryer or oven, then it is recommended to store it only in a tightly clogged glass jar. Moreover, it is desirable to place the filled container in a dark cool place. Also allowed to store peeled nuts in the package. But in this case they should be sent to a cold store. Although with such storage, hazelnuts retain in themselves all the useful properties of not more than 6 months.

If you have not cleaned the hazelnut from the shell, it is recommended that the dried fruits be placed in a tissue or paper bag. In the future, it is desirable to send it to a dry, but slightly cool and dark place. In this case, it is necessary to periodically check the product for the presence of rot and mold stains. If you find this, then in no case do not use nuts and do not try to "resuscitate" them. They can only be thrown into the trash can. If this is not done, then you risk damaging your own health, since the use of moldy fruit causes the strongest allergic reaction and causes a serious blow to the liver. This is due to the fact that in this product there are quite dangerous substances called aflatoxins. According to experts, they produce molds that are not afraid of heat treatment and are in no way derived from the human body.

How to apply?

If you manage to collect a large number of hazelnuts, clean them properly, dry them and keep them at home, then it's quite easy to find them. You can eat fruits just like that. However, a day is recommended to eat no more than 8-9 nuts. After all, they contain a large amount of minerals and vitamins, which, if overused, can adversely affect your health.

In addition, the purified hazelnut is very often used in cooking. Whole fruits are good to add to homemade chocolate, cake and sweets. As for the crushed hazelnut, they can sprinkle the surface of the cake, use it for making various sauces, goulash and so on. It should be noted that such a product is able to give dishes not only nutritional properties, but also special taste qualities.