Hazelnuts

Today's the day ……………………… for some nutty facts

In 1995, on the Scottish island of Colonsay, a shallow midden pit was found, dating back to the Mesolithic age some 8,000 years ago - full of the remains of hundreds of thousands of burned hazelnut shells.

This discovery gave an insight into communal activity and planning in the period. It is possible that because of the lack of evidence of large game on the island, Colonsay may have contained a community with a largely vegetarian diet for the time they spent on the island.  So it would have been roasted hazelnuts on the menu most nights.

Ferrero SpA, the maker of Nutella and Ferrero Rocher  uses 25% of the global supply of hazelnuts.  Nearly 70% of the world's hazelnuts come from Turkey, which is Ferrero's main supply source.  A BBC investigation in 2019 found that migrant child labour is used on many hazelnut orchards in Turkey.  Ferrero, has stated that, while it does run programmes aimed at removing child workers from farms, the complexity of the supply chain means it is unable to say with certainty whether or not any children pick some of its hazelnuts.

The hazelnuts featured above are still on the tree - and will not (with 100% certainty) be picked using child labour ………………..