Peeling Hazelnuts is a basic skill necessary for many recipes
Hazelnuts must be toasted to shed their bitter outer skin. That is a good thing, as toasting brings the flavour out of any nut and the hazelnut is best when toasted.
Take a good look at those gorgeous, plump, fresh hazelnuts, above. Peeling hazelnuts is not possible with aged wizened nuts. It is important that you have fresh, plump nut meats.
Once toasted, the shells tend to separate from the nut, but not without coaxing. You can see some have split as the nut has enlarged from the heat. Now is the time to rub the skin off the oily surface of the nut.
A tea towel works well. Into the tea towel, twisted end, then rub them together with zeal. The friction will cause the skins to shed from the nuts.
There will be a few that have been lost in the crowd and they will shed their skins in the second rubbing once those skinned have been taken out of the pouch.
The amount of bitter skins is surprising. Discard this carefully before working with peeling hazelnuts second time round. The gorgeous globules of fragrant nutty goodness make it all worthwhile. If you are having difficulty with this process, your nuts are simple old. Otherwise, this works like a charm, every time.
They’re messy but soooo good!