Hazelnuts

Hazelnuts are used in confections to make pralines, in chocolate for chocolate truffles, and in hazelnut paste products. In Austria, hazelnut paste is an ingredient for making tortes, such as Viennese hazelnut torte. In Kiev cake, hazelnut flour is used to flavor its meringue body, and crushed hazelnuts are sprinkled over its sides. Dacquoise, a French dessert cake, often contains a layer of hazelnut meringue.

The nuts may be eaten when fresh or dried, which produces different flavors.

In a 100-gram serving, raw hazelnuts supply 2,630 kilojoules (628 kcal) and are a rich source (20% or more of the Daily Value, DV) of numerous essential nutrients (see table). Particularly in high amounts are protein, dietary fiber, vitamin E, thiamin, phosphorus, manganese, and magnesium, all exceeding 30% DV (table). Several B vitamins have appreciable content.

In lesser, but still significant amounts (moderate content, 10-19% DV), are vitamin K, calcium, zinc, and potassium. Hazelnuts are a significant source of total fat, accounting for 93% DV in a 100-gram serving. The fat components are monounsaturated fat as oleic acid (75% of total), polyunsaturated fat mainly as linoleic acid (13% of total), and saturated fat, mainly as palmitic acid and stearic acid (together, 7% of total).

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