The wild nuts with more iron than steak

the recent heatwave is good news for Kentish cobnut farmers, who say the mild and wet spring and this summer’s sunshine and high temperatures mean they’re expecting a bumper harvest.

cobnuts, a variety of cultivated hazelnuts, have grown wild in Britain for thousands of years. they can be eaten or pressed into a delicious oil favoured by foodies and chefs at top restaurants such as the Ivy in London.

they are highly nutritious: six cobnuts provide as much iron and protein as ½ lb of red meat, and they’re also high in calcium and vitamin a.

also known as filberts, they were hugely popular among victorians, who liked to eat them with after- dinner port. now, however, cobnuts are endangered — demand has fallen and fewer of us know about them.

alexander hunt, chairman of the Kentish cobnut association, expects Britain’s plantations to harvest around 200,000 tonnes of the nuts this year, compared with the usual 75,000 tonnes.

and he says the warm weather means cobnut pickers, or ‘nutters’ (really), may well be able to start picking earlier than the official start of the season on st philibert’s Day, august 20.

alexander, who is Kent’s only organic cobnut producer at potash farm near sevenoaks, makes a vast array of cobnut delicacies, from creamy fudge to biscuits, chutneys, oils and, of course, the nuts themselves.

he’s just launched delicately scented skin repair balm and cold-pressed cobnut oil soap as well as two sauces.

the moroccan-influenced smoky roasted pepper sauce is flavoured with cumin, coriander, mint and smoked paprika, while the thai chilli sauce is made with lime, light soy sauce, ginger, chilli and garlic. It’s £6.95 a bottle or two for £12.