Oregon Cuisine: As most of our Whitewater Warehouse guests know, we LOVE food, especially Oregon-regional food. And nothing comes closer to an Oregon original than the scrum-de-licious hazelnut (or what some people call the filbert). 99% of the United States' hazelnuts are grown right here in Oregon's Willamette Valley. In fact, the hazelnut is Oregon's state nut! That's one of the reasons we serve the little "brown rounds" on all our rafting and hiking trips. We purchase the hazelnuts straight from our local grower--Chambers Farms. Once we buy the nuts, we roast them, drizzle them in olive oil, and season them. Our southern Oregon Rogue River hiking, rafting, and kayaking guests can't get enough of these healthy orbs. Sometimes, we even purchase the chocolate double-dipped hazelnuts from the Chambers' Farms--double delectable!
Back as far as 4,500 years ago holy men in ancient China reportedly ate hazelnuts to gain clairvoyance. The Greeks believed the nuts could cure colds and baldness. The Romans and the Celts gave hazelnuts to encourage fruitfulness in marriage and, curiously, to protect against lightning. So there you go. If you eat these nuts you can grow back hair, stop your sneezing, stabilize your marriage, and even find out where to stand (clairvoyance) so you won't be hit by lightning. Wow. A pretty power-packed little package!
Coolest thing about the hazelnut tree is that is blooms in winter! That's right, the filbert is the only orchard crop that send forth flowers--male and female--when days are shortest. Pollen from the long, soft catkins falls over the tiny red buds on the branch from December to March, then the tree essentially naps until June.
If you want to learn a lot more about this incredible nut, check out Anne Saker's article in Sunday, February 8, 2009's Oregonian.
0 comments:
Post a Comment