Traditional hazelnut production in Alba

Curiosity about hazelnuts

The peculiarity of this plant is that it blooms in mid-winter, usually around January and February, although the flowers begin to appear in late summer or autumn. The male flowers are a type of cylindrical cluster that is green in colour and can reach a length of 7-10 cm. It largely depends on the progression of the season, but it certainly remains one of the plants with the earliest flowering. Small intense red flowers, on the other hand, can be found at the tips of the branches. They are the female flowers hidden within small buds, a few millimetres long, which, at the same time as the flowering of the male flowers, present a red tuft intended to receive the pollen grains. Pollination is entrusted to the wind: there is no need for showy, colourful, and fragrant flowers (they must not attract the attention of insects) but rather structures that can release clouds of pollen into the air. Flowering occurs before the plant produces leaves, a natural barrier that would hinder the circulation of pollen between the branches. Like all plants that rely on the wind for their future, the hazel also produces large quantities of pollen, most of which will be lost. From the buds that are pollinated in this way, we will obtain our hazelnuts, woody fruits surrounded by a frayed leafy husk, which mature in groups of 2-3 or more at the end of summer, containing a single edible fruit.