Going nutty

Singing the praises of hazelnut flour in Italian cooking

Add a sweet touch to Italian cooking with hazelnut flour.

In autumn, hazel trees dress up in their best fall colors, then begin to drop their precious nuts onto the orchard ground below. That makes hazelnuts one of the easiest crops to gather: Farmers wait for them to fall, then collect them with low-to-theground sweeping machines.

It’s a sight seen all over Italy, which boasts the world’s second largest production. No surprise there, as Italians are nuts about hazelnuts, using them in many traditional dishes, from handrolled hazelnut flour fettuccine to hazelnut pesto, not to mention a little chocolate and hazelnut spread that has knocked peanut butter off toast the world over.

In northern Italy, hazelnut flour, made from grinding the nuts, replaces white flour in both salty and sweet dishes.

The flour pairs well with chocolate and is best known for its appearance in gianduja, the traditional, creamy chocolate and hazelnut spread. Invented by a chocolatier from Turin in the late 1700s, the decadent spread was later popularized by Nutella, which was crafted from the original gianduja recipe by Pietro Ferraro, a baker from Alba, Piedmont, in 1963.

Here in the U.S., hazelnuts are a highlight of the autumnal harvest in Oregon, where 800 small farms along the length of the Willamette Valley produce 99.9 percent of the U.S. hazelnut crop.

“Oregon boasts the perfect climate for growing hazelnuts,” explains Troy Johnson, chair of the Oregon Hazelnut Board. “The temperate ocean, mountain and river climates, together with the rich volcanic soils, produce hazelnuts that are large in size and rich in flavor.” Indeed, Oregon’s hazelnuts are bigger than their Italian cousins.

Whether you purchase it readymade or grind your own, hazelnut flour offers a fiber-rich, gluten-free flour option that’s lower in carbohydrates than white flour. It’s also packed with nutrients, including potassium, while the skins are high in folates and proanthocyanidin, a flavonoid beneficial to cardiovascular health, says Johnson.

If you’re looking to add richness and a nutty texture to your baked goods, replace 50 percent of the flour in your recipe with hazelnut flour. Sarah House, innovation chef of Bob’s Red Mill, also suggests stirring hazelnut meal into your hot cereals, breading chicken or fish with it, and adding it to your favorite smoothie to boost nutrition.

E. JASON WAMBSGANS/CHICAGO TRIBUNE; MARK GRAHAM/FOOD STYLING In northern Italy, nutrient-rich hazelnut flour, made from grinding the nuts, replaces white flour in both salty and sweet dishes.