Nuts Whole hazelnuts !

[woodypecks]

I noticed that this year for the first time ever , I have a good crop of Hazelnuts .  I love the squirrel  , but would like to get these nuts before he does . The nuts are quite large , have a good sized white meat inside , but still with a white shell within their caps of light green  .
Can I pick them now and ripen them to a shell of brown indoors ?     I have trolled through lots of websites and found no satisfactory answer to this .   
We tried shelling and eating them  , apparently some folk like them at this stage  ,....we did not like !     :P

                                     Thanks all !

[woodypecks]

[saddad]

It's worth a try... if not put them back out for the squirrel!  :-\

[Ophi]

You don't have any choice but to pick them.  A friend of mine picks the nuts and keeps them in a box and gives them a move around each day.  They do ripen and are very nice.

[mat]

As a child I used to love taking myself up to the local woods and eating the nuts at the white "milky" stage - delicious.  In the days when parents let their children out to roam...

I don't think nuts ripen any more, once they are removed from the tree.  they tend to shrivel if not fully ripe

[antipodes]

Is it possible to net them? I can tell you that when the squirrel comes, he will not leave one on the bush for you!!
Here people pick them ripe but then you leave them in a cool dry place to dry out inside and then you can eat them.

[woodypecks]

You see ....it seems to me that the bit you eat inside is ready  but the outer skin needs to harden .  I am afraid to net the bushes , in case birds should get trapped .
  Ophi , I think you are right  ,  I have no choice  ... I will maybe try your friend's  " box shaking " method  .
We thought that they had a sharp after taste when eaten at this stage .
There must be folk out there who grow Hazelnuts who know ! I inherited these bushes when we moved here and have only really used them for bean poles etc .  Thrilled to see real nuts up there in the branches !    :D   Thankyou for your ideas anyway .

[goodlife]

What ever you decide to do..will you let us know how it all ended up?
I'm interested  about the results if you do pick them early.
I'm hoping that in near future..or in couple or year or so  ::)..I'm getting my own nuts too.. ;D