Hazelnut of the Langhe

The Langhe produce one third of all the hazelnuts of the province of Cuneo; their total harvest is of 80 thousand quintals a year. The local kind of hazelnut is the Gentle Round Hazelnut of the Langhe (of the Corylius Avellana species), with an excellent and delicate taste, easy to peel and to preserve. Already in the last century the local pastry-cooks – first of all Michele Prochet – discovered the value of hazelnut, and put them as a basic ingredient in that particular kind of chocolate called gianduja. Since then, requests haven’t stopped to grow, so that farmers, in the Thirties, first tried to cultivate big hazelnut fields. On Dec, 2nd, 1993, the Italian government created a rule for the official classification and the protection of the Gentle Round Hazelnut of the Langhe.

Hazelnut trees are cultivated on hills high 250 to 700 meters, mostly in those zones that aren’t suitable for vineyards. In Cortemilia and Alba there are little and medium-size industrial laboratories, that dry and peel hazelnuts.