Ingredients · Nut & seed

Hazelnut

Corylus avellana · Betulaceae (birch family)

Hazelnut
Sweet, toasty and rounder than almond — and, unlike almond and walnut, a true nut in the botanical sense. Two products carry it, one as hazelnut brittle. Its natural partner is chocolate, and that combination has a place of origin: it was developed around Turin, where it is called gianduja, and finer grinding of the same idea produced Nutella.

What it’s like, and how to use it

The partSeed
KindNut & seed
CaffeineCaffeine-free
Where it is fromTurkey
TasteSweet and toasty with a rounded richness; warmer and less sharp than almond

How to use it

In dessert blends. Toasting is what brings it out — raw hazelnut is comparatively flat.

With food

Chocolate above all. Coffee. Caramel and toffee. Pear. Cream. Banana. Brown butter. Fig.

With spices

Vanilla. Cinnamon. Cardamom. Coffee. Sea salt.

With tea

Black tea and rooibos in a dessert blend. Pu-erh. Roasted oolong.

Its story

Where it comes from

Turkey was the world's largest producer in 2023, accounting for 57.7 per cent of total production — an unusually concentrated share for any crop. Our lot names no origin.

What happened

Hazelnuts have been eaten in industrial quantities for a very long time. In 1995, evidence of large-scale Mesolithic nut processing some 8,000 years old was found in a midden pit on the island of Colonsay in Scotland — radiocarbon dated to around 6000 BCE — hundreds of thousands of burnt shells, from a systematic harvest rather than casual gathering. Its modern fame is Italian: ground hazelnuts with chocolate, developed around Turin, is gianduja, and from there gianduiotto and Nutella. It is also in pralines and nougat.

On the shelf with it

Every product it goes into.

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