“Nocciole”
Words and Photos by Eva Mühlbacher
On the daily inspirational and photo-perfect hike around Castello we soon discovered the hazelnut groves next to the vineyards. These hazelnuts are not like average hazelnuts, we learned this very quickly when we visited Alberto Quazzo (Tastë Langhe), and we caught Nocciole fever.
In the past, the family business mainly supplied large customers such as Ferrero, but now there are other plans. The spacious production halls in Somano are where the nuts are peeled, processed and attractively packed in-house. Nut nougat cream, finest chocolates or just roasted. 5 of these nuts per day and you stay healthy, a medical tip that is also a real treat!
In the Langhe the nuts and vines are grown in perfect separation, and from the small branch that is simply stuck in the ground, to the first nut it takes at least 5 years.
We discovered the nuts in the Langhe and travelled back to Vienna with heaps of Alberto’s delicacies. We are delighted to discover Piedmontese hazelnut ice cream here in the ice cream parlours we loved.
