Corylus cornuta
| Corylus cornuta | |
|---|---|
| |
| Beaked hazel foliage | |
Scientific classification 
| |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| Clade: | Angiosperms |
| Clade: | Eudicots |
| Clade: | Rosids |
| Order: | Fagales |
| Family: | Betulaceae |
| Genus: | Corylus |
| Species: | C. cornuta
|
| Binomial name | |
| Corylus cornuta | |
| |
| Natural range of Corylus cornuta | |
Beaked hazelnut (Corylus cornuta) is a species of hazelnut native to North America.
About 20 nuts were collected from a single tree in a rural area of Marin. There were many other trees around but some only had catkins (could they be males? is this species dioecious?) and none had a significant number of nuts.
The husks are covered in fine barbed hairs that easily penetrate the skin and are difficult to remove, similar to the glochids of prickly pear but much less painful. After the husks were removed, the shells were cracked by smashing with a blunt object (this was actually less messy than using a pair of pliers as a nutcracker). About half of the nuts were rotten inside but the other half yielded substantial nut meats. These were roasted under an electric broiler until just starting to brown and emit steam, then chopped and enjoyed as an ice cream topping. Similar to commercial hazelnuts.