Filberts or Hazelnuts? Toss ‘em in your salads!

Depending on where you are from and how old you are, you may call these small round nuts a filbert or a hazelnut. I grew up in the Willamette Valley of Oregon and vividly remember the filbert trees at the end of the street. When all the nuts would fall to the ground, we would stomp on their hard shells to break them open. They were never considered a delicacy and we never thought about actually eating them. Years later when hazelnuts started appearing in cookbooks and on restaurant menus as an Oregon specialty, I pondered, “When did the lowly filbert become a sought-after hazelnut?” Today, hazelnuts provide a fancy addition to chocolate desserts and a sweet, toasted crunch to all kinds of salads. Two recipes where hazelnuts shine are my sister’s veggie pasta salad and a shaved Brussels sprouts and apple salad.