Roasted hazelnuts from Piedmont
(Tonda Gentile Trilobata)

Description

The Tonda Gentile

Beloved the world over, so much so that it is considered the world’s ‘queen’ of hazelnuts due to its quality characteristics. Besides being very good for your health thanks to its organoleptic properties, regular consumption of hazelnuts would have positive effects on your health.

Firstly, hazelnuts contain a significant number of essential amino acids and vitamin E (which is a powerful antioxidant) and are rich in lipids: the lipid fraction consists of more than 40 per cent monounsaturated fatty acids (such as oleic acid) and has the highest monounsaturated/polyunsaturated ratio compared to other nuts.  It would seem that a diet with a high consumption of oleic acid maintains a low level of the famous ‘bad’ cholesterol, while raising the level of ‘good’ cholesterol, which is a defence against the onset of vascular problems.

It is cultivated in a specific territory, as the name ‘Tonda Gentile delle Langhe‘ suggests. A strip of land in the south of Piedmont, which includes the beautiful hills of the Langhe, which, since 2014, are part of the Unesco World Heritage. This area has a perfect climate for its ‘bush’ cultivation: the hazelnut tree fears too much heat and too much cold; it therefore prefers a mild and well-ventilated climate thanks to the sea breezes coming from Liguria, and without excessive seasonal swings, and loves fresh soil.

Harvesting, now mechanised, begins towards the second half of August and continues until the first half of September.