Hazelnut
Corylus americana · also: American hazelnut, filbert, noisette
Nuts🗓 Nuts ripen late Aug–Sep📍 26 on map (0 confirmed)
How to ID it
- Multi-stemmed shrub with round, doubly-toothed leaves that come to a point
- Nuts held in clusters wrapped in a leafy, frilled green husk (involucre)
- Husks and young stems have fine bristly hairs
- Nut inside is the familiar round hazelnut/filbert
Safety
- No toxicity concerns and no dangerous lookalikes — hazelnuts are a common food nut. As with any tree nut, sample cautiously if you have a nut allergy.
- Turkish hazel (Corylus colurna), a common Montréal street tree, drops edible nuts too — safe, in a spikier husk that's just fiddlier to extract.
Harvest
Watch the clusters from mid-August. Squirrels strip these plants clean the moment nuts approach ripeness, so pick slightly early — when the husks are still greenish but the nut inside has filled and firmed — then finish curing at home. Snap whole clusters off; the frilly husks are easy to spot.
Prep
Peel the leafy husks away (gloves help with the bristles) and spread the nuts to cure a couple of weeks until the shells harden and the kernels rattle slightly. Crack and eat raw, or roast for deeper flavor. Small but genuinely good — real hazelnuts.
Notes
Don’t wait for “perfect” ripeness in the wild; you’ll lose the crop to wildlife. The Turkish hazels planted along many Montréal streets are also worth checking in late summer.
Guides & links
Updated 2026-08-09