Fresh Hazelnuts Harvest and Preparation

Harvesting and Preparing Fresh Hazelnuts

Hazelnuts / Cobnuts / Filberts in Season in the UK

I very much enjoy the flavor of hazelnuts.  Hazelnut (the nut of the hazel tree) is also referred to as cobnut or filbert nut according to species.  I do not know the specific species of hazelnut I have harvested this year, but they sure do taste good!

I really have no idea how many hazelnut trees are in the UK since they do not appear terribly abundant  — I have only found a few so far (Turkey is the big commercial producer in the world with about 70% of the total, though in 2014 the hazelnut crop was 90% lost due to frost and such).

I encountered some trees located right along a paved public bike-trail nearby in the Southwest of the United Kingdom, but only located them by chance when I saw all the pulverized nut shells and mashed (by bikes) filberts on the trail.  There is a bit of work involved in manually collecting fresh hazelnuts.

It was not too difficult to locate the source cobnut tree(s) based on where the nuts had rolled to on the ground — just a bit of back-tracing.  But, then came the fun of dealing with stinging nettles growing all around the base of the trees! (ouch!)  With careful movement, I was able to collect about a kilogram of nuts with only a few nettle stings.

Hazelnuts Nutritional Value — Healthy-Eating

Hazelnuts are a rather healthy nut and a great gluten-free ingredient.  They are high in dietary fiber and low carb.  In fact, they have more protein than they do "net" carbs (carbohydrates less fiber portion of carbs). They are rich in vitamin E especially (100% daily requirements in 100g of nuts)!

In addition, the nuts contain a nice balance of minerals and other vitamins: B1, B6, and folate are notable vitamins; manganese, magnesium, and iron are noteworthy minerals.  Furthermore these nuts contain a lot of healthy unsaturated fats (especially oleic acid, a monounsaturated fat) that may even help lower "bad" (LDL) cholesterol.

Hazelnuts in Pictures (in husks, clusters, loose, and shelled) 

Here are some pictures that show the hazelnuts in their varied states, along with a look at the tree leaf that may help you identify a hazel tree along the way:

Hazelnuts / Cobnuts : on tree, in husks, and husked

Shelled Hazelnuts / Filbers / Cobnuts -- ready to toast / roast

Roasted Hazelnuts

How to Roast the Hazelnuts

It took a few hours to shell all the hazelnuts.  I chose a pair of pliers to crack the nut shells with and my wife opted for the meat-hammer to crack them open with.  Shelling the hazelnuts is the hardest bit of work in the entire process — it takes time and my forearms and hand muscles can still feel the aftereffects of squeezing pliers for hours.  Perhaps there is an easier way, but this worked I guess.

Roasting is optional.  You may prefer the nuts raw — the flavor at this point is much milder and the consistency is rather like fresh coconut.  Roasting really brings out the hazelnut flavor that you may be used to tasting in hazelnut praline and similar products, and I really like that well-developed flavor.

Once the nuts are all shelled, simply place the hazelnuts on a cookie sheet (or jelly-roll pan with a slight edge — as I have done — so they do not roll off) and put them into a 150-degree-Celsius (300 degree F) oven for about an hour or just over.  You can decide how long to bake them based on the desired consistency.  I like them nice and crunchy, but I do not mind them slightly soft in the center either (still with that coconut-like consistency).  You can test them by pressing down on them with a fork or other utensil and observing whether they "give" yet — a crunchy nut will not give at all.  My preferred crunchier nuts took about 1 hour and 10 minutes in a convection oven.

Coming up: Using Hazelnuts in Recipes

I have been using these fresh hazelnuts in a variety of gluten-free recipes lately. The simplest of these recipes is a nice nutty granola with toasted whole hazelnuts, fresh coconut, almonds, raisins or currants, and some gluten-free oats.

I have been making homemade hazelnut butter with the roasted nuts. Another favorite is my own version of "Nutella" (brand) hazelnut / chocolate spread but without all the sugar and with a LOT higher percentage of hazelnut and cocoa — here is a link to my gluten-free Nutella-like cocoa hazelnut spread recipe.

Continue to read this Gluten-Free Blog for all sorts of gluten-free recipes, product-reviews, and related information. In addition, visit my Gluten-Free Recipes Site where many of the recipes I have featured on this blog are available.

Gluten-Free Health Warrior Chia Bar Review

Health Warrior Brand Gluten-Free Chia Bars Review

Chia Seeds meet Snack Bars : a great combination!

For any of you that have read my blog for any length of time, you have noticed I have written a few articles about recipes and baking with chia seed and/or product containing chia.  And now I am writing about a nice snack bar product line — each simply labeled "Chia Bar" of various flavors —  from a company called Health Warrior.

Health Warrior (HealthWarrior.com) Chia Bars

I have been a fan of chia seed (salvia hispanica) for years now, having used them quite regularly since 2008, as chia sees have a wonderful nutritional profile in addition to making a great gluten-free baking ingredient. Chia seeds provide a nice balance of fiber, healthy fats (Omega 3's), and protein. I am used to using them in their hydrated form in my various homemade drinks and recipes, but this time I am enjoying them in as they appear in these commercially-available Health Warrior Chia Bars.

Health Warrior brand gluten-free acai berry chia bar (close-up and full of chia!)

Pleasing Taste and Texture from Innovative Ingredients

The first bite into the acai berry chia bar variety instantly reminded me of some favorite sesame-seed snacks I have had in the past — the texture was quite similar, and I am not quite sure how much of that is from non-hydrated chia.  As you can see in the close-up photo, it sure looks like sesame-seeds in a way too, and I am not sure if what I am seeing is perhaps all due to white-chia-seeds, or if some of what I see is also the gluten-free-oats used in the formula (yes, they contain oats); sure seems like it is mostly chia seeds I feel and see.  They also employ cashew-butter in the base-formula shared across all the bar varieties from what I see on the labels too.

The oats almost prevented me from trying this product, since I have not had oats (even "certified gluten-free" ones) in years; I have found I can tolerate small amounts on occasion, but generally just avoid them.  But, I decided to make an (oats) exception and try this interesting chia bar product, and I am glad I did.

My wife and I both enjoyed it and found that the flavor was pleasing as was the texture: it was not too sweet, not artificial tasting in any way, but just about spot-on with regards to the berry-centric flavor and the sweetness (sugar level) was just about where I like it (not too sweet, and a reasonable net carbohydrate load reflects this in the nutritional facts printed on the label: 15g total carbs of which 4g are fiber and 5g sugar).  I can definitely detect some nutty flavor from the cashews, but it too blends quite nicely with the other flavor-contributors in the recipe: things like cranberries and strawberries (of which there are certainly more of than of than the featured "acai berry" highlighted on the label for its buzz-factor and popularity) and vanilla.

The bars are rather small (just under 1 ounce), and that is one reason I actually gave them a try even with the GF oats included (I figured it would be a very small dose of oats for me); and, I am delighted to report, the oats had no ill-effects on me either.  Regardless, the size is about right for a quick small snack while keeping the carbohydrate intake down (and, getting 3g of protein thrown in along with Omega 3's for good measure).  I think these bars will come in handy when out for a long bike ride or walk where I want a nice nutritionally balanced snack with me that also tastes good and transports well.

Bottom line: my impression is that this is a quality snack product with a taste and texture I quite enjoyed and can enjoy more in the future.  It was a nice alternative to many of the much sweeter date-based bars, and it is also soy-free and 100% vegan (given I eat ZERO soy, this was a great fit for me too!)  I still need to try the other varieties (as shown in the picture), but I expect they will be similarly enjoyable and welcome in my gluten-free diet snack-repertoire.

A related thought: I would welcome a sugar-free version of these bar if Health Warrior could create a stevia-sweetened version and replace the brown-rice-syrup.  This bar, due to its diminutive size, has a reasonably low-carb / low-sugar profile, but it has the potential to be a very-low-sugar option with some minor tweaks.  I have my own ideas for a recipe that could perhaps yield my desired super-bar outcome: use stevia and perhaps (though breaking with the dairy-free status) use some whey-protein as a "binder" of sorts (perhaps in combo with some hydrated chia); this idea may not work commercially, but I plan to play with the idea for kicks since I enjoy recipes and baking quite a bit.

Continue to read this Gluten-Free Blog for all sorts of gluten-free recipes, product-reviews, and related information. In addition, visit my Gluten-Free Recipes Site where many of the recipes I have featured on this blog are available.

Silver Hills Bakery Gluten-Free Bread Review

Silver Hills Bakery Gluten Free Chia / Flax Breads

Finally, GUM-FREE Gluten-Free commercial Bread options!

I have rarely eaten bread in recent years for the simple reason that nearly all commercial gluten-free breads contain various gums and thickening/binding agents that my GI tract dislikes — e.g., Xanthan Gum, Carageenan, Guar Gum, and so forth.  But, finally, I found a brand of gluten-free bread that is organic and contains no added gums and has an enjoyable taste and texture: Silver Hills Bakery.

[2017 UPDATE: some years after I originally wrote this, Silver Springs Bakery changed their name to "Silver Hills Sprouted Bakery", and also renamed their various bread varieties (now pictured below). Also, for gluten-free bread comparisons, check out my blog about the wonderful Genius Gluten-Free Breads brand (Spiced Fruit Loaf / Seeded varieties are awesome!), and the underlying food-technology from Dow (plant-based stabilizers: Walocel, Wellence, etc) that makes some of these modern GF breads so amazingly like normal breads.]

Silver Hills Bakery Bread (courtesy of SilverHillsBakery.com website, 2017)

Gluten-Free Silver Hills Bread : Taste, Texture, Nutrtion

I have thus far tried the "Gluten-Free Chia Chia" and "Gluten-Free Omega Flax" Silver Hills Bakery varieties, and I like them both.  These breads are available frozen, Each slice of bread has 5g of fiber, 1g of fat and only 70 calories (12-13g net carbs), but I must note here that a "slice" of bread is not like a full-sized slice of bread that the masses of gluten-eaters get in a loaf of commercial bread: these are rather small slices that measure only 2.5 inches wide x 2.75 inches tall by 3/8-inch thick (17 slices per loaf, 20-ounce loaf in total).  It is thus a rather dense bread, and not a "fluffy" or "airy" bread like most commercial gluten-laden breads.

As with most gluten-free breads, I prefer mine toasted, as pictured here.

Silver Hills Bakery Gluten-Free Bread

Silver Hills Bakery Gluten-Free Bread

As I said, the bread is quite dense, but will get a nice crunch to the crust when toasted like this.  As such, it holds up nice when I eat it with a bit of olive-oil on it, or peanut-butter, or even my egg-salad.   I have tried the bread un-toasted, but I prefer the texture that toasting brings to the equation.

The non-GMO vegan gluten-free Chia Chia ingredients are: Water, organic whole sorghum, organic whole ground chia seeds, organic cane sugar, organic whole psyllium husks, yeast, organic rice flour, organic vinegar, sea salt; the gluten-free Omega Flax non-GMO vegan ingredients are: Water, organic whole sorghum, organic whole ground chia seeds, organic cane sugar, organic brown flax seeds, organic whole psyllium husks, yeast, organic rice flour, organic vinegar, sea salt.

These ingredients produce a predictable pleasant taste as imparted by the underlying core grains used in each.  Sorghum prevails as the prominent taste, but the yeast and vinegar bring forth a bit more complexity in the flavor and results in a nice balance.  Again, my preference for toasting comes into play with regards to taste, since the sugars will caramelize a bit during the toasting and further develop the overall flavor combination in a good way.

I'd say that Silver Hills has done a nice job with their gluten-free breads, especially given the fact they have taken the bold step of doing bread "right" (my opinion at least) by omitting the all-to-common gums and additives so many gluten-free breads contain.  They have created these wheat-free, vegan, gluten-free breads while remaining true baking like "homemade" and using the basic organic grains and ingredients I am looking for in a bread.  I enjoy this, and I hope others will too.

Continue to read this Gluten-Free Blog for all sorts of gluten-free and wheat-free recipes, product-reviews, and related information. In addition, visit my Gluten-Free Recipes Site where many of the recipes I have featured on this blog are available

Sugar Free Diet? Sucralose (aka, Splenda®) may still impact your Blood-Sugar and Insulin Levels

Sucralose (aka, Splenda®) / sugar-substitutes may alter blood-sugar response

Sugar-Free Diets using artificial-sweeteners may still impact blood glucose and insulin levels

I was just reading about a new small study by researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis where study results showed that a popular artificial sweetener (Sucralose, or Splenda® by its common brand name) can modify how the body handles sugar. This is certainly worth further research, as many of us using sugar-alternative for calorie-reduction or an otherwise sugar-free-diet may be making assumptions about the products, and their potential impact on our blood-glucose and/or insulin levels, that may turn out to not be 100% correct.

I think the first thing to mention of note about this study was the size of the study: it was a VERY small study group and involved only 17 persons, and the participants were severely obese.  But, the evidence obtained from it sure looks to alter the conventional wisdom that this sugar-substitute (sucralose) is completely incapable of affecting our blood-sugar and/or insulin levels or response curves.  As quoted from the article I read:

"When study participants drank sucralose, their blood sugar peaked at a higher level than when they drank only water before consuming glucose," [...]. "Insulin levels also rose about 20 percent higher. So the artificial sweetener was related to an enhanced blood insulin and glucose response."

That is indeed of interest.  Like the authors later noted, such response makes one consider the progressive nature of Type-2 diabetes and how when we routinely secrete more insulin, we can become resistant to its effects, thus leading us down the path to type 2 diabetes.  That is a bit scary.  But, I still have to believe products like sucralose are going to slow that march toward Type-2 as compared to ingesting the usual sugars: glucose, sucrose, fructose, etc.

I have used Splenda® in various baked products over the years, and more recently I tend to use stevia-based sweeteners.  And, when it comes to stevia, I personally use a LOT of it in my daily life (generally pure powdered stevia and/or PureVia® brand sweeter), from my morning home-made low-sugar greek-yogurt creations to my no-added-sugar smoothies to many other things.  All of these products are certainly wonderful options for people that want to reduce sugar (and/or carbohydrates in general) in their baked goods or other sweetened foods -- gluten-free or otherwise.  I have some gluten-free recipes where I rely almost entirely on such artificial sweeteners (including my own "low-carb cheesecakes" that I still need to post the recipes for on my library), and I have to believe recipes using these sugar-replacers are still much better at attenuating blood-sugar response when consuming the resulting foods (as compared to if I had used conventional high-sugar sweeteners like white sugar, brown sugar, and so forth).

I would personally like to see larger-scale studies done on sucralose as well as other favored sugar-substitutes like: stevia / Reb-a / rebaudiana, Eryithritol (pretty common in conjunction with stevia - e.g., Truvía® brand sweeter uses this combo), and Xylitol too.  I have done my own research over the years, by way of reading available published scholarly material on stevia and eryithritol, and I currently feel they are most likely going to have little if any affect on blood sugar, but I sure wouldn't mind wide-scale studies that confirm this.

Continue to read this Gluten-Free Blog for all sorts of gluten-free recipes, product-reviews, and related information. In addition, visit my Gluten-Free Recipes Site where many of the recipes I have featured on this blog are available

Gluten-Free Recipe for Vegetarian "Hot Wings" (tastes like chicken?)

Gluten-Free Vegetarian "Hot Wings" (click for larger view); photo by Kate

Cauliflower "Hot Wing" and Spinach Salad with Blue Cheese Dressing

[by Kate — guest gluten-free blog author] 

A tasty alternative to Chicken Hot Wings ("Buffalo Wings") :
now Gluten Free, Vegetarian, and Low Carb

[mike's intro]: Kate has created yet another delicious gluten-free diet recipe that is bound to be interesting to anyone that is vegetarian but yet gets cravings for things from the pre-vegetarian days: in this instance, the subject of such cravings would be Buffalo-style chicken "hot wings".  

Kate tackles the task of satisfying such cravings using a combination of low-carb, gluten-free, flavor-packed ingredients that should help quell those desires for chicken hot wings with an innovative alternative.  Enjoy! [m] 

Vegetarian, Low-Carb, Gluten-Free "Buffalo-Style Wings"; photo by Kate

I have been a vegetarian for a long, long time. And, I have my Dad to thank for this--ever swift to point out inconsistencies between what people profess and how they behave. My Dad, relatively early in my life, pointed out the disconnect between the way I vocalized my responsibilities toward animals and my actual behavior--namely, my propensity to eat them. And, though it was a struggle early on to change eating habits, my vegetarianism has persisted into adulthood and I don't imagine ever giving it up.

If anything, I'm thankful for my vegetarianism: it has made me creative. I sort of have to be creative, because there are meaty things that I crave--foods that I used to enjoy very much--that I like the challenge of making anew. I try to re-create them in vegetarian form. And, this post is about one such attempt to re-create a beloved meat dish, the hot wing, to fit my vegetarian lifestyle. And, it was a successful attempt!

Blending the hot wing sauce, blue cheese dressing, and celery traditional to the hot wing meal, my Cauliflower "Hot Wing" and Spinach Salad with Blue Cheese Dressing is an amazingly satisfying nod to the beloved hot wings of my carnivorous past.

Ingredients:

• Cauliflower, 1 head chopped into florets 
• Hot Wing Sauce (I used a mix of Paula Deen's mild and hot hot wing sauces***); approx 1 cup 
• Approx. 1/3 cup Garbanzo Bean Flour (I use Bob's Red Mill brand) 
• Approx. 1/3 cup Nutritional Yeast (I use Bob's Red Mill brand) 
• Pepper, to taste 
• Smoked Sea Salt, to taste 
• Liquid Smoke, a dash or to taste 
• Baby Spinach 
• Celery, chopped 
• Tomato, chopped (use to taste) 
• Red Onion, diced (use to taste) 
• Carrot, shredded (use to taste) 
• Avocado, sliced (use to taste) 
• Yogurt-based Blue Cheese Dressing 
• Queso Fresco, cubed (optional)

*** Paula Deen's wing sauces do not list wheat in their ingredients lists. However, they are not clearly labeled Gluten Free. If you have celiac disease or a strong wheat intolerance than you may consider searching out a brand that explicitly labels their hot wing sauce Gluten Free.

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.; prepare baking sheet with aluminum foil. 
2. Clean and chop cauliflower into florets. Dip cauliflower into hot wing sauce combined with liquid smoke. 
3. Coat dipped cauliflower in mixture of garbanzo bean flour, nutritional yeast, pepper and smoked sea salt. 
4. Place on baking sheet lined with aluminum foil and bake in the oven for 20 minutes at 350 degrees F. followed by an additional 3-5 minutes on broil. 
5. Meanwhile, assemble salad fixings, including: spinach; tomato; celery; carrot; avocado; red onion; queso fresco (optional); Blue Cheese dressing 
6. Remove Cauliflower "Hot Wings" from oven. Let cool a few minutes before tossing in leftover hot sauce and placing on top of salad. 
7. Serve & enjoy!

Continue to read this Gluten-Free Blog for all sorts of gluten-free recipes, product-reviews, and related information. In addition, visit my Gluten-Free Recipes Site where many of the recipes I have featured on this blog are available