Cobnuts

[poliphilo]

On Sunday I bought cobnuts off a roadside vendor. They're a Kentish speciality and- though I spent much of my youth in the county- I'd never (knowingly) eaten them before. They taste a lot  like coconut. 

Comments

[michaleen.livejournal.com]

You had never had them at all or just never this particular variety? I like hazelnuts, though one never sees them here as often as walnuts and almonds.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

I'm a little unclear about the exact relationship between the cobnut and the hazel nut. It's my impression that the cobnut is a distinct sub-species- and that they don't grow (or at least market)it outside Kent.

[michaleen.livejournal.com]

All I know is what I saw online, myself. It said that the Kentish Cob is a particular cultivar of hazelnut developed in the 1830s and so successful that it supplanted other varietals.

Also, I just learned that there is a difference between hazelnuts and filberts. The things you didn't know!