The romance of nut cracking is lost on those who are hungry. Or in a rush.
But on a slow Friday afternoon with your friends, it’s a lovely, communal thing to do.
The art of cracking was never really a matter of interest until a bag of hazelnuts was plonked on the kitchen table in front of me. My mission was to de-hull 750 grams in preparation of making Bruti ma buoni (ugly but delicious) - a simple and delicious biscuit made from thrashed egg whites, half a ton of sugar and 750grams of our troublesome hazelnuts. I should mention that a hazelnut is small, smooth and as hard as hell. They're also a bit ... well... disappointing - once you have opened the foresaid nut, what’s inside is a withered looking, slug-shaped morsel. So it hardly seems worth it.
Nevertheless, there I sat, in Marilena's kitchen as she buzzed around preparing this and that. I sat, focused, nut-cracker in hand, on a mission to nudify these nuts with perseverance as payment for several long months of boarding at their home. It was the least I could do!
Then there's the Walnut. Noce, theyre called in Italiano. At the markets, in the F&V area, you’ll find barrels of them and little men, gloved and ready to fill a bag for you at €5 a kilo. And they're happy to get rid of them it seems. And why not - again, they're a bit fiddley, but I have had several important lessons on getting their gear off from the likes of Nonna, Nonno, Eugenio and, of course, Marliena. It seems to make sense.
I mean, when it’s snowing outside and you're having a long lunch, or dinner, or mirenda, generations of nut-munchers have had the time and the need to discuss the varied methods of cracking. To use a tool, o not use a tool? What kind of too does one use - a knife? a hammer? a specifically designed nutcracker seems to be the weaker man's method, and not often at hand in centuries past. So what to do? Old style. Hard core nut cracking territory.
Ok. Technique 1: lay the nut on its side on the table. Rest a single, straight finger over it and then give your finger a good hard whack! Yes, I tried it. Yes, it hurt. But there must be SOME technique to it - its the nut-seller's preferred method. And Marilena's. She's hard core.
Number 2: Take two nuts in one hand. Press your closed hand to your chest and use the other hand to crush the nuts together and break either one or both open. Makes you look really tough this one - very masculine, very grrrrr! It's Andrea's favourite method - obliterate and conquer. And I can imagine that its rather satisfying.
Number 3: My preferred method. Take a knife (yeah, I’m soft) and find the not-pointed end of the Walnut. There's a margin there where the two halves of the nut meet and it's surprisingly soft. Slide the knife in about 5mm and twist! Crack! 8 times out of 10, its split nicley into two little brains and quite often will show you the shape of a heart... awwwww.
How you clean out the halves is up to you, but it is useful to know that there is a kind of soft woody sheath which separates the four quarters.
Come to mention it... Ever heard of the Doctrine of Signatures? Well it states that food matter frequently shows us a physical representation of its medicinal qualities. With all the omega-3 oils that nuts provide us, it’s no wonder that the humble, now LESS indestructible Walnut has shown to be good for your heart and mind. That brain-shaped nut inside its hard cranial shell – it’s one of the more obvious.
The learning, sharing and trying provided by the members of my extended Italian family well, it’s just one of life pleasures. Next – how to crack them open without shattering them into a zillion pieces!
