Today marks the first day of the first annual Wisconsin Hazelnut Week. The Upper Midwest Hazelnut Development Initiative has put together events to help folks learn more about growing and harvesting hazelnuts.
- Thursday, Aug. 18 — AHC Field Day in La Crosse, 3-5 p.m.
- Friday, Aug. 19 — Central WI Field Day in Amherst, 1-4 p.m.
- Saturday, Aug. 20 — Southern WI Field Day in Spring Green and Barneveld, 9 a.m.-3 p.m.
- Saturday, Aug. 20 — Northern WI Field Day in Bayfield, 8 a.m.-noon
Register: https://www.midwesthazelnuts.org/
Jason Fischbach is the Initiative director and an Extension specialist. He explains hazelnuts are an emerging new crop for Wisconsin with significant economic and environmental benefits. The UMHDI is working to realize the vision of early-adopter growers: to create a sustainable hazelnut industry modeled after the oak savanna and based on our native American hazelnut.
Hazelnuts are a multi-use crop. The kernels, oils and meal can be used in a broad range of food products like edible oils, spreadable nut butters, nut flours and confections. With so many uses and so many markets, hazelnuts will provide many economic opportunities for growers and processors, Fischbach says.
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