Purple Kent Cobnuts
Purple Kent Cobnuts are a traditional seasonal treat, grown here in Kent. Their distinctive reddish-purple husks hide a fresh, creamy nut with a mild, slightly sweet and wonderfully nutty flavour.
When freshly harvested, cobnuts are quite different from the dried hazelnuts you may be familiar with. The kernels are moist, crisp and succulent, becoming richer and more intensely nutty as they mature and dry.
They are a lovely taste of the Kent countryside and have a relatively short fresh season, typically appearing from late summer into early autumn.
🌰 How to eat fresh cobnuts
They are very simple to prepare:
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Pull away the leafy outer husk to reveal the nut in its shell.
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Crack the shell with a nutcracker. Fresh shells can sometimes be opened fairly easily.
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Remove the pale kernel and eat it raw. There's no need to peel the thin skin from the kernel.
- Alternatively, lightly roast them for a deeper, sweeter, more traditional hazelnut flavour.
Fresh cobnuts are excellent eaten on their own, but they're also delicious chopped over salads, added to cheese boards, scattered over yoghurt or porridge, or used in cakes and desserts.
Storage tip: Because fresh cobnuts contain considerably more moisture than dried nuts, they're best kept cool and refrigerated and eaten while fresh.
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