Argo wrote:
> This year has yielded a bumper crop of hazelnuts in my garden. I'd like
> to make hazelnut butter (which is awesome - I've made it before) but
> I'm only able to make small amounts at any one time. I just get too
> tired of cracking the nuts by hand.
>
> My question is - is there such a thing as an automatic or mechanical
> cracker that would work well for hazelnuts? Obviously, I wouldn't be
> looking for something that a manufacturer would use - but something a
> step up from a vice-type hand cracker.
>
> Thanks for any tips.
>
> Argo
> http://greenrealm.blogspot.com
> (a science fantasy)

Around here, people crack the outer shells of walnuts by laying them
out on concrete and driving over them.

Hazelnuts are a lot smaller, so you'd have to have a piece of plywood
or something similar on top of the nuts before driving over them;
otherwise, they'd just stick in the tires.

Put down a big sheet of food-o.k. plastic on the driveway; spread the
hazelnuts out in a single layer - put a piece of plywood on top and
drive over it slowly. It might work pretty well, especially if you
don't need the nuts in whole pieces, and it certainly couldn't hurt to
try it. ;-) You could also do the plastic bag/meat pounder or hammer
thing, too, to crack the shells.

(I'm so allergic - these are the nuts that will kill me one day - that
it makes me itch just to talk about it!)

N.