OF all the fruits of the earth, perhaps nuts are the most
important and the most highly appreciated, for every part
of the world has one or more, forming a great portion of the
food of the people.
Of course, in civilised countries nuts do not hold so
important a position as in uncivilised, for with the growth
of civilisation comes luxury, and with luxury a variety of
food brought from all parts. But in early times nuts were
in especial request, as may be seen by referring to almost all
archaeological discoveries j for wherever pre-historic human
remains are discovered in Europe, there the hazel-nut is
almost always found. The hazel tree was largely used in
divination, and is still employed by those who profess to
discover water by means of the divining-rod.
Among the relics of the Swiss lake-dwellers, the beech-
nut and the water chestnut are found, as well as the hazel-
nut, all three having been used as food ; but the hazel-nuts
found among pre-historic relics have probably been used
in some sort of religious or superstitious rites, a remnant
of which is found in the Hallowe'en festival (October 31), at
which time, even now, in many parts of England, Scotland,
Ireland, and the Isle of Man (but more particularly in the
two latter), when a young girl wishes to know whether her
171
172 OUR VIANDS
lovers are faithful, she takes three nuts and places them on
the bars of the grate, naming two after her lovers and the
middle one for herself. If a nut pops and jumps, the
lover represented by that nut is unfaithful, but if the nuts
named after the girl and her favoured lover burn together,
they will be married. Burns's poem on c Halloween '
describes this country custom so well, that we will quote
a couple of verses : —
' The auld guidwife's weel-hoordit nits
Are round and round divided,
And mony lads' and lasses' fates
Are there that night decided :
Some kindle couthie, side by side,
And burn thegither trimly ;
Some start awa' wi' saucy pride,
And jump out owre the chimlie
Fu' high that night.
Jean slips in twa wi' tentie e'e ;
Wha 'twas she wudna tell ;
But this is Jock, and this is me,
She says in to hersel :
He bleezed owre her, and she owre him,
As they wad never mair part ;
Till, fuff! he started up the lum,
And Jean had e'en a sair heart
To see 't that night.'
The hazel-nut grows abundantly in woods throughout the
British Isles, and it is one of the delights of autumn to
form nutting parties, with hooked sticks, to pull down the
branches, and bags, to carry home the ripe fruit to store
for winter use. The squirrel has taught us that nuts stored
underground retain their freshness for a long time, but we
may also assure our readers, from observation, that nuts
NUTS AND APPLES 173
put in an empty jar which has held spirit, and corked
tightly, will keep beautifully fresh for months, in a cool place.
The. filbert is a cultivated variety of the hazel-nut, and so
also is the cob-nut, which is extensively grown in Kent,
and is the largest kind. But it is not equal in flavour to
the filbert, which name is a corruption of the old English
TL&mtfuU-btard, from the long fringed husk.
Our viands
1893Page 84
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OF all the fruits of the earth, perhaps nuts are the most
important and the most highly appreciated, for every part
of the world has one or more, forming a great portion of the
food of the people.
Of course, in civilised countries nuts do not hold so
important a position as in uncivilised, for with the growth
of civilisation comes luxury, and with luxury a variety of
food brought from all parts. But in early times nuts were
in especial request, as may be seen by referring to almost all
archaeological discoveries j for wherever pre-historic human
remains are discovered in Europe, there the hazel-nut is
almost always found. The hazel tree was largely used in
divination, and is still employed by those who profess to
discover water by means of the divining-rod.
Among the relics of the Swiss lake-dwellers, the beech-
nut and the water chestnut are found, as well as the hazel-
nut, all three having been used as food ; but the hazel-nuts
found among pre-historic relics have probably been used
in some sort of religious or superstitious rites, a remnant
of which is found in the Hallowe'en festival (October 31), at
which time, even now, in many parts of England, Scotland,
Ireland, and the Isle of Man (but more particularly in the
two latter), when a young girl wishes to know whether her
171
172 OUR VIANDS
lovers are faithful, she takes three nuts and places them on
the bars of the grate, naming two after her lovers and the
middle one for herself. If a nut pops and jumps, the
lover represented by that nut is unfaithful, but if the nuts
named after the girl and her favoured lover burn together,
they will be married. Burns's poem on c Halloween '
describes this country custom so well, that we will quote
a couple of verses : —
' The auld guidwife's weel-hoordit nits
Are round and round divided,
And mony lads' and lasses' fates
Are there that night decided :
Some kindle couthie, side by side,
And burn thegither trimly ;
Some start awa' wi' saucy pride,
And jump out owre the chimlie
Fu' high that night.
Jean slips in twa wi' tentie e'e ;
Wha 'twas she wudna tell ;
But this is Jock, and this is me,
She says in to hersel :
He bleezed owre her, and she owre him,
As they wad never mair part ;
Till, fuff! he started up the lum,
And Jean had e'en a sair heart
To see 't that night.'
The hazel-nut grows abundantly in woods throughout the
British Isles, and it is one of the delights of autumn to
form nutting parties, with hooked sticks, to pull down the
branches, and bags, to carry home the ripe fruit to store
for winter use. The squirrel has taught us that nuts stored
underground retain their freshness for a long time, but we
may also assure our readers, from observation, that nuts
NUTS AND APPLES 173
put in an empty jar which has held spirit, and corked
tightly, will keep beautifully fresh for months, in a cool place.
The. filbert is a cultivated variety of the hazel-nut, and so
also is the cob-nut, which is extensively grown in Kent,
and is the largest kind. But it is not equal in flavour to
the filbert, which name is a corruption of the old English
TL&mtfuU-btard, from the long fringed husk.