Nutting Day: Make Your Own Nutella!

Around the middle of September, the nut season starts. Hazelnuts ripen in the hedges, and they have long been connected to folklore and legends. Hazel is associated to the Celtic tree month of Coll, from August 5 to September 1, and the very word Coll means “the life force inside you.”

Hazelnuts are connected to wisdom and protection, and are often found near sacred wells and magical springs. Hazelnuts can be used in workings related to divination and dowsing – tie a ripe one onto a string and use it as a pendulum!

In the British Isles, September 14 was the day when children would forage in the woods to collect hazelnuts, because this is when they are supposed to be perfectly ripe. In some legends, young maidens who go out a-nutting are in danger of becoming pregnant without benefit of marriage — this is probably less due to the fertility associations of nuts and more to the fact that Nutting Day gave you a chance to be alone in the woods with your lover.

If you worked as a lacemaker, Nutting Day had a special significance. From this day until Shrove Tuesday in the spring, you could use a candle to light your work.

Lacemakers spent long hours working at their craft for little pay, and because of the precise nature of their job, their eyes were often tired and achy by the end of the day. They were often advised to bathe their eyes in gin, which stung, but refreshed them enough that they could work a few more hours. The use of a candle permitted them to work longer during the dark winter months.

September 21 is sometimes called the Devil’s Nutting Day, and it was the date on which mortals should never gather nuts.

In some areas of Britain, nuts were not to be picked on Sundays, either. There’s a story in the Warwickshire area that the devil himself was out gathering hazelnuts when he accidentally met the Virgin Mary (the story doesn’t explain why Mary might have been wandering around in Warwickshire, but hey, it’s an old story). He was so startled to see her that he dropped his bag of nuts, which turned into a hill called the Devil’s Nightcap.

Make Your Own Nutella

Nutella is basically the food of the gods, and I figured out a long time ago how to make my own. Thus, gentle readers, I share my recipe with you because if you can’t make Nutella on a day that celebrates hazelnuts, for dog’s sake, when can you? Nutella is one of those foods I rarely buy because, honestly, it’s a bit pricey and my kids will eat an entire jar in about 48 seconds, not even including the time it takes to lick the lid clean. I don’t even really like the taste of hazelnuts, but I dig me some Nutella. I’ve even included photos for you so you can follow along.

You’ll need:

7 oz hazelnuts (yes, they come in an 8 oz bag)
10 oz baking chocolate
1 can condensed milk
1/3 C regular milk
1/4 tsp salt

Roast the hazelnuts in a pan until they’re nicely browned. Do not abandon them to go update your Facebook page, or they will burn. Yes. Trust me.

Put the hazelnuts in your food processor, and blend the hell out of them until you’ve got something that looks and feels like peanut butter.

Melt the chocolate in a microwave-safe dish. Sure, you could use a double boiler, but I’m a fan of working smarter, not harder.

Add the condensed milk, and mix.

Dump your hazelnut mix in with the chocolate and condensed milk. Yes, it looks kind of gnarly. And yes, it tastes amazing. Add the salt. Warm up the milk, and gradually add it into the mix. This will be sort of liquidy at first, but as it cools it will thicken.