Buy the latest types of raw hazelnut kernels
Quebec City, by taking advantage of fertile soil has the potential of cultivating a majority of tree species. The study of hazelnut trees and their kernel shows that these products are one of the top nauch products of this land.
raw hazelnut kernels
Nuts are the hard-shelled fruits of blooming trees or shrubs. Each seed's outer shell can be readily cracked open to reveal one or more seed kernels.
Most nuts are palatable and healthy, and both people and animals like to eat them. The native nut species of Canada number about twenty.
The bulk of these species, including the American hazelnut (Corylus americana), American beechnut (Fagus grandifolia), and black walnut, are found in the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence and deciduous forest regions of southeastern Canada.
Western Canada is where you can find Garry oak acorns, whitebark pine seeds, and beaked hazelnuts (Corylus cornuta). Indigenous peoples are known to have devoured almost every species.
The bulk of native nut species has been replaced in human diets by imported nut species like cashews, English or Persian walnuts, American pecans, and European filberts (Corylus avellana). The wild nuts that Canadians eat the most are discussed in this article.
Nutrition
Protein, oil, carbohydrates, vitamins (particularly the B-complex), and minerals are abundant in nuts. Although boiling them often enhances their flavor, digestibility, and nutritional value, they can be eaten raw.
Many people produce a lot of oil. To get rid of some of the potentially harmful and bitter-tasting tannins, oak acorns in particular typically undergo leaching in water and/or boiling.
Hazelnuts
Bushy, deciduous, three-meter-tall shrubs, hazelnuts are. The round, smooth, and hard-shelled nuts are produced individually, in pairs, or small clusters. Each nut has a sheath of green leaves around it.
The beaked hazelnut (Corylus cornuta) and the American hazelnut are two hazelnut species that can be found in Canada.
The American hazelnut can be found between southern Manitoba and southwest Quebec, whereas the beaked hazelnut can be found between British Columbia and Newfoundland.
Both the Haudenosaunee and the Anishinaabe used the nuts of both species.
Beaked hazelnut was used by several BC First Nations, including nearly all of the coastal and interior Salishan peoples, Dakelh, Tsilhqot'in, Ktunaxa, Gitxsan, Nisga'a, and upriver Trims. It was also used by the Cree, Dakota (Sioux), Algonquin, Mi'kmaq, and Wolastoqiyik (Maliseet) people
Typically, hazelnuts were collected in the late summer, possibly from squirrel nests. Many indigenous languages refer to these nuts as "squirrel" or similar terms.
For instance, the Nisga'a word ts'ak'a ts'inhlik, which means "dish of squirrel," is used to describe hazelnuts. The nuts were submerged in wet soil to remove the hulls.
The kernels were eaten raw, roasted, cooked in soups, or made into healthy cakes by combining them with fruit and fat. Hazelnuts were stored in large numbers for the winter or set aside for trade.
To stimulate fresh growth, the bushes were occasionally burned or coppiced. They were also moved to different areas. Canada's native wild hazelnut species are still eaten, but commercial filbert has mostly taken their place.
American Beechnut
The American beechnut tree has straight trunks and grows to a height of 25 meters. It has plain, large leaves that are oval.
It grows in the Maritimes to the east and southern Ontario's deep woodlands. The 2 cm long, triangular, pointed, brown nuts have a thin shell and a brown color.
Inside a prickly husk, they grow in pairs. In the autumn, you can gather them off the ground or from the nests of deer mice, and other rodents.
The Anishinaabe, Mi'kmaq, Wolastoqiyik, Algonquin, Haudenosaunee, and Potawatomi were among the Indigenous Peoples who consumed the nuts, raw or cooked because they were sweet and tasty.
Beechnuts can also be added to bread and puddings, and cooking with their oil is also an option. Some individuals still gather these nuts today.
Hickory Shagbark
The shagbark hickory, which grows in southern Ontario and along St. Lawrence in Quebec, is the principal source of hickory nuts in Canada. The deciduous, upright shagbark hickory has a hairy, peeling bark.
Its intricate leaves include five leaflets that stretch out from a central stalk and are shaped like pointed ovals.
When fully developed, a substantial wooden husk splits open to reveal the nuts. The tasty kernels inside the tough shells were relished by Great Lakes natives, particularly the Anishinaabe, Haudenosaunee, and Potawatomi.
The nuts can be eaten raw or roasted, and on occasion, they are ground up and mixed with beans, berries, or cornmeal to form a particular kind of bread.
Hickories were harvested for their oil, which was then utilized as a seasoning in a variety of dishes.
In addition to growing in Canada, three or four closely related species—bitternut, or swamp hickory (C. cordiformis); shellbark hickory (C. laciniosa); pignut hickory (C. glabra); and red hickory (C. ovalis, frequently grouped under C. glabra)—produce edible nuts, albeit they are less tasty.
The species of the genus Juglans that produce butternut (Juglans cinerea) and black walnut (Juglans nigra) are both medium-sized deciduous trees.
Huge leaves made up of numerous leaflets on a single stalk are present on every plant. Butternuts have ridged, jagged shells and thickly hairy, sticky hulls that are about twice as long as they are wide. Black walnuts have non-sticky hulls and spherical nuts with ridgeless surfaces.
Butternut trees are found in New Brunswick, southern Ontario, and Quebec, whereas black walnut trees can be found in the wet lowlands of southwest Ontario.
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Because they are susceptible to a fungus known as Butternut Canker, which is causing their population to decline, butternut trees are seen as being at risk of extinction.
Although butternuts are reportedly tastier than commercial walnuts, both of these nuts have a fantastic flavor.
All Native American tribes within the tree's range, including the Haudenosaunee, Anishinaabe, Potawatomi, Algonquin, Mi'kmaq, and Wolastoqiyik, devoured butternuts, which were harvested in September and October. Butternuts were processed and used similarly to shagbark hickory nuts.
Although black walnuts have a more limited range, the Haudenosaunee and Huron-Wendat consumed them.
At least 10 species of oak live in Canada, including nine tree species and one shrub, the dwarf chestnut oak. The only place in Canada where the Garry oak (Quercus garryana) may be found is in the driest parts of British Columbia.
The bur oak (Quercus macrocarpa) can be found from southern Manitoba and Saskatchewan to New Brunswick. All other types of oaks are only found in the Southeast of Canada, particularly in southern Ontario.
The fruit of oak trees with an egg-like form and a thin shell known as an acorn is covered in a woody, scaly cap.
All acorns have the potential to be edible when cooked, and among the most popular nuts among Native Americans were acorns.
Acorns from oaks with round-lobed or regularly toothed leaves (the white oak and chestnut oak groups) are more delectable than those from oaks with sharply-lobed leaves (the red oak group), which are frequently rich in tannins that have a harsh taste and are typically taken when food is scarce.
Many groups of people, including the Anishinaabe, Mi'kmaq, Wolastoqiyik, Haudenosaunee, Huron-Wendat, and Potawatomi, used to rely heavily on acorns as a source of sustenance.
The Straits Salish and other peoples of a similar ilk devoured Garry oak acorns on the west coast. Typically, throughout the autumn, women, and kids would gather acorns from the ground.
The acorns were boiled in several changes of water, perhaps with caustic soda made from wood ash, to eliminate the tannins.
The acorns may alternatively be stored in baskets dipped in wet mud, which would allow the tannins to be leached out. They were used to make a meal, which was then added to soups and used in a variety of dishes.
U.S. hardwood
The medium-sized, upright American chestnut tree has large, oblong, pointed, and finely-toothed leaves. It covers the nuts with a brittle husk.
An introduced bark fungus has all but wiped out this tree, which was once common in the hardwood woods of southern Ontario and the rest of eastern North America.
In the past, the Haudenosaunee and other Indigenous peoples of eastern North America relied heavily on chestnuts as a food source.
The nuts were used in bread, soups, and sweets, either raw or roasted, or dried and crushed into flour. They were also roasted like coffee beans and made into a drink.
Pine Whitebark
The large, nut-like seeds of the whitebark pine, a subalpine forest tree found in the mountains of central and southern British Columbia and western Alberta, were consumed by the Interior peoples of British Columbia, including the Stl'atl'imx (Lillooet), Nlaka'pamux (Thompson), Secwepemc (Shuswap), Sylix (Okanagan), and Tsilhqot'in.
In the late summer and early fall, the cones were collected from nearby mountain ranges, roasted over a fire or in an oven, and the seeds were then removed, divided, and consumed like peanuts.
For use throughout the winter, they were occasionally mashed and combined with other meals and dried Saskatoon berries (Amelanchier alnifolia). Although many elderly people have pleasant memories of them, few people nowadays consume them.
They were traded historically; for instance, the Lower Nlaka'pamux commonly received them in exchange for hazelnuts from the Upper Nlaka'pamux.
Other conifer seeds, such as those of the Douglas fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii) and ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa), were occasionally also eaten.
Wildlife
Nuts are an essential food source for many wildlife species, which also help spread and propagate plants.
Mice, squirrels, chipmunks, bears, foxes, raccoons, jays, woodpeckers, grouse, and quail are among the animals that frequently eat nuts.
Many oaks and other nut trees have grown as a result of squirrels or jays storing nuts and neglecting to fetch them back.
While beavers eat the bark of some species, including hazelnuts, deer, and moose browse the leaves, twigs, and other parts of nut trees and plants.
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