The round and gentile Langhe Hazelnut

|the hazel and its story| |nthe round and gentile Langhe hazelnut| |mycorrhization with the truffle| |our advises|

The hazel and its story

Prof. Emanuele Ferraris (“Garessino” as far as birthplace but “Langarolo” adopted), after recognizing the suitable ground, climate and altitude (between 500 and 700 metres) for a good fructification (and after spending a period of thirty years in the “Albese” as a Professor), has the merit of having experimented and then propagandized the implantation of hazel groves in the Alta Langa district. He created the precious hazel pilot-cultivations in the Feisoglio countryside. He demonstrated its higher productivity (up to 4 quintals of shell-dry fruit per day) and a better resistance of the plant (comparing with the vineyard) to organic and parasitary affections; nonetheless the proverbial resistance of the Langhe “dolcetto” and its rusticity, which allows it to acclimatize itself and to ripen even at very high altitudes. Before then, nearly all the farmers chose to plant vineyards (specialized or mixed cultivations), although the 1879-81 vine pest and the grape downy mildew devastated everything. They only thought about reconstruction. Nowadays vineyards (unsuitable for this area) are practically abandoned. It was the spontaneous popular gratitude to decorate the well-deserving agronomist.
The variety of hazels, spread all over the surrounding region, is called “gentile [gentle] del Piemonte”, characterized by a very hard and completely full shell, which allows a good return for the cultivators.
It is consider the best hazelnut for industrial use (preferred to the Roman, Neapolitan and  Sicilian ones, but also to those from Spain and Turkey). It is employed in chocolate industry (which has a vast and well-known business complex  in Alba) and in “torrone” manufacturing (very ancient and famous activity in Alba). “Langarole” hazelnuts assure friability and a pleasant taste to the local “torrone”, in unison with the robinia-flowered honey.
The same hazelnuts shells are employed as combustible. The hazel wood is employed to produce very fine embers, which it is employed in making drawing charcoals and gunpowder. Among the major centres for hazel cultivation are Feisoglio, Cortemilia (the main market), Torre Bormida, Perletto, Gorzegno, Cravanzana, Rocchetta, Cossano, Roddi and Trezzo Tinella, the latter two located in “Bassa Langa”.

The round and gentile Langhe hazelnut

The hazel is a fructiferous plant ,which (in the last twenty years) had an important development in the Northern, Central and Southern Italian areas; for local and foreign request have increased; and the hilly areas (freed from other cultivations and often abandoned) have been cultivated with hazel groves with good commercial results. The “Tonda gentile [round and gentle] del Piemonte” or “Langhe hazelnut”, with medium size fruits, roundish, hard-shelled, completely full, fragrant seeded. It is considered a very prestigious hazelnut and merits a better diffusion. It is the most prestigious and requested for its industrial employment: it is considered the best in the world by the people from Alba and Cortemilia. The production of a hectare of specialized Langhe hazel groves is between 18 and 24 quintals of dry shelled hazelnuts; the plants begin their production at their fifth-sixth year from their plantation. They are completely ripe at their twelfth year. The productive business period lasts for 40-50 years; the cycle of life is 70-80 years. In Langa, harvesting starts the 15^th September; the average annual production (in a decently fertile ground and with a rational plantation) is between 18 and 25 quintals of dry shelled hazelnuts per hectare. The fruit removed from the plant dries in two or three days; it has not to be touched by the rain in order for its price not to decrease. The exsiccation loss is 15-20%. The weight relation between the seed (kernel) and the shell varies between 40 and 50% (according to the variety). The oil output oscillates between 60 and 65% of the seed weight. The hazelnuts are consumed, fresh or dry, in refectories or industrially employed. Their request from the confectionery industry (which is the major employer) increases constantly for they (due to their unmistakable aroma, to their delicate taste and to the high energetic value they own) represent one of the basic materials most largely employed in making multiform series of confectionary products. Shelled or roasted, entire or broken in pieces or transformed in pasta, hazelnuts are employed to prepare chocolates, hazelnut chocolates, “gianduia”, small boxed chocolates, “torroni”, almond brittles, ice creams, covering crèmes, long preserved confectionery, etc. They are also employed to prepare cosmetics, scents, soaps, medicines. Moreover, the oil, extracted from the hazelnut seed, is employed (due to its characteristics) in watch-making and for oiling reactors. Finally, their shells are employed to manufacture bakelite, “faesite” and absorbing special coals; they are employed as oven and heater combustible with optimum calorific results. The hazel represents one of the most interesting plants (for agricultural and business reasons) for hill and mountain modern fruit farming; the hazel (due to both its rather easy cultivation and its high profits from the marketing of the product) has undoubtedly and decisively contributed to the formation of a new hilly and mountain economy; in fact, it allows the advantageous substitution of insufficiently and no productive cultivations. Moreover, it allows the valorisation of slopes threatened by hydro-geologic deterioration , for its dense and large radical apparatus bridles the ground impeding erosions and landslide movements.

Mycorrhization with the truffle

The hazel (together with the oak) is the precious white Piedmont Truffle “Tuber magnatum Pico” and the precious black Norcia Truffle “Tuber melanosporum Vitt.” favourite guest (with whom it lives in symbiosis). The truffle mycelium invades the hazel radicles; it enters the cortical area; it creates a fungus cloak externally, from which the hyphas (which explore the ground) depart. These absorb mineral elements from poor grounds and transfer them to the plant from whom the mycelium takes the elaborated necessary-for-its-grow substances. After a short period of summer drought, the fructiferous bodies (which become truffles once ripe) differentiate themselves from the mycelium. The mycorrhaized hazel plants are located in areas where their roots meet the truffle spores (in a particular development phase and with favourable weather and ground conditions). However, the natural diffusion of mycorrhaized plants occurs difficultly, so that it is necessary implanting artificial truffle-ground (employing mycorrhazied hazels) in order to obtain secure productions. The hazel is preferred to the oak for it can produce the early truffles 5-6 years from the grounding. Mycorrhazed plants are obtained starting from the seed. In Spring and before germination, they are treated chemically to obtain a good sterilization; then they are moved to a sterile substratum and grounded at 15-20°C. After some months the seeds germinate and the plants have 4-5 leaves; they are carefully extirpated; the taproot is blunted and the radical apparatus is immerged in a solution with truffle spores for two days. This solution is prepared by employing well-ripe truffles, which have rotten in distilled water for a few days until they become easy to pulp by hand. The small plants are placed in 1-2 litre vases employing suitable grounds. Subsequently, a cubic centimetre of  swill (full of truffle spores) is placed by the small plant neck. The small plants are watered during Summer and let grow in shaded zones until Autumn (when they are ready for the grounding). Well-drained, metalled, sub alkaline, organically-substance or mineral salts poor grounds are their favourites.

Our advises

Sapori di Langa strongly recommend to visit the hazel typical production area: Feisoglio, Cortemilia, Torre Bormida, Perletto, Gorzegno, Cravanzana, Rocchetta, Cossano Belbo, Roddi and Trezzo Tinella (the latter two in the Bassa Langa). The best period for visiting this area is undoubtedly the end of August (when you can watch the harvest). The hazelnut-based confectionary is important (we recommend you to visit our web pages dedicated to recipes and to Cascina Grangia, and all the links you can find on our home page.