Adrienne Smith wrote:

>Any paleos who live in the NYC area know where to 
>find unshelled organic hazelnuts?  Whole Foods and 
>Fairway only carry the shelled and I find it way to
>easy to go "nuts" and overeat the unshelled ones.

Can this be right? In all of New York City, with its
rich variety of cuisines, markets, ethnic communities
and demanding shoppers, a basic north American
nut is not available in its shell?

In our city of 350,000 we have all the basic nuts
- almonds, walnuts, hazels, pecans, macadamias,
brazils - available in the shell. Only the walnuts
are guaranteed organic, although of course the brazils
are, but just lack the certification.

Given the tough shell and the resilient nature of
nut trees, do you think there is much difference
between the cultivation of organic and non-organic
nuts? 

I know the Californian walnuts imported here have
had their shells bleached for cosmetic reasons. 
I don't know how processors bleach the nuts, but there
are some pretty strong bleaches out there and they
may well penetrate the shell.

Keith