The BBC Podcast ‘Just one Thing’ with Michael Mosley focused on the health benefits of nuts in the episode ‘Nibble Some Nuts‘. They said…
‘Nuts are a rich source of fibre and polyphenols. They are also very high in fats and calories, but studies have shown that eating these bite-sized snacks won’t add to your waistline. These nutrient powerhouses could also help slow-down the ageing process. Research has found that walnut eaters live, on average, over a year longer than those who don’t. What’s more, adding nuts to your diet can help your brain!’
Our goal is to get fresh Green Cobnuts to you as soon as they are ready, as if you had picked them off the trees yourself!
This is a complex logistical challenge, requiring many skilled people to collaborate and play their part on time and with great care:
Friday
The pickers will be in the Cobnut plats at dawn, whatever the weather, carefully removing each nut cluster from the trees, filling up their picking sacks. These will go straight to the sorting tables where the sorters will inspect each and every Cobnut, removing any bad ones along with any excess foliage.
Saturday and Sunday
The sorters will continue sorting, while the packers weigh, pack and label each individual order. In between each operation the Cobnuts are stored in a coldstore to slow the aging process.
Monday
The collection driver will collect all the orders from the farm and take them to the central distribution center where each package will be redirected to the correct delivery branch.
Tuesday-Friday
The delivery drivers will fan out throughout the country delivering your precious packages. You will finally get involved, tearing open the bag and sampling this years crop!
As soon as your receive your package, remove the Cobnuts from the sealed plastic delivery bag and let them breathe in a cool place, ideally dark. Some people put them in the fridge and I do believe this slows down the browning process. There’s something special about a Chilled Green Cobnut!
If you don’t eat all your Cobnuts immediately, remember to keep them in the cool, dark place and they will age majestically, turning Golden over a period of a month. The husks will turn brown fall off. The kernel will slowly dry out, getting richer and nuttier in flavour all the time. This process will continue for a very long time. I have a bowl of Cobnuts from last year that I’m still enjoying. Yes, the kernel is shrivelled and much more dry, but they are so nutty! And still delicious.
As you can see, there are many moving parts to getting your Cobnuts to you, and it is a tribute to the skill of everyone involved that most orders are fulfilled exactly as planned. However, every year there are inevitably gremlins in the machine and if you are unfortunate to be let down in any way then please get in touch with us and we will make things right 🙂
Good news! We know you have all been waiting patiently for the Cobnuts to be ready, and the wait is almost over! The shop is now open, and Green and Golden Cobnuts are now available for pre-order. The Green Cobnuts will be ready to ship as soon as the first harvest is in, usually around the beginning of September. The Golden Cobnut orders will be shipped later, once the nuts start to fall out of the husks. So no need to worry nutters, pre-order now and your nuts will be with you soon enough.
I recently came across this beautiful poem by Julia Donaldson titled ‘Nut Tree’, and it reminded me of the cobnuts and the upcoming harvest. Here is an excerpt:
And branches grow and stretch and spread
With twigs and leaves above your head.
And on a windy autumn day
The nut tree bends, the branches sway,
The leaves fly off and whirl around,
And nuts go tumbling to the ground:
Small, brown, hard, round.
Do you have any poems which remind you of something special like cobnuts; or maybe you have a favourite piece of poetry? Please do share-we love to hear from you!
Soon we will be able start the process of de-husking and sorting the Golden Cobnuts. We should start shipping Golden Cobnuts in the next few weeks. Of course we’ll keep you updated on the progress.
Here’s a photo of how the Green Cobnuts are currently looking – you can see them slowly turning Golden.
There is now a new, frustration free way to pay for Cobnuts in the shop – We are pleased to present the “Debit or Credit Card” button 🥳
Pressing this button will reveal a form right below the button for you to enter your details, without any attempt to sign you up to a PayPal account!
Thank you to everyone who let us know the trouble they were having trying to use the “Pay with PayPal” button to pay with a debit or credit card. We had all sorts of reports of strangeness, from hidden pop up windows to card details being refused to disabled buttons. I really hope that this new “Debit or Credit Card” button puts an end to this frustration once and for all! Please let me know how you get on with it, and many apologies for the strife we may have put you through.
The team have worked their socks off over the last week to make sure that you receive the absolutely freshest Green Cobnuts.
Thank you so much for all of your many orders, it was quite a task getting them all out for delivery!
We all hope you are enjoying this year’s crop as much as we are, at least 2020 has produced good Cobnuts.
From now on we will fulfil orders on a Monday and Wednesday – trying to ship any later in the week is fraught with problems as we don’t want to risk your Cobnuts spending a weekend in a hot delivery centre somewhere.
YES! The Cobnuts are ready and we are already picking, sorting and packing all of the pre-orders that we have received so far for Green Cobnuts.
The Chief Nutter has been out in the plat and this morning gave the special signal that lets the rest of us know that those delicious kernels have reached peak crunchy nuttiness.
This year we are several weeks ahead of schedule, because of the lovely weather we have enjoyed since April.
Although early indications are that there may not be as many Cobnuts as last year, the Chief Nutter is very pleased with the quality of the Cobnuts, the thought is that the very wet winter that we had has helped them to grow big and fat.
Here at Allens Farm Cobnuts we take every precaution to ensure that your Cobnuts come to you as fresh as possible and that the Cobnut is protected by a shell so no harm can come to the nut. Delivery by Courier ensures that Next Day delivery is our standard.
It is perfectly acceptable to leave the package untouched for a couple of days before opening to reduce the risk even further. Try to ensure it is left in a cool dark place to avoid the Cobnuts overheating.
You can clearly see the change in the colour of the husks. Over the next few weeks the husks will turn browner still and start falling off. Right now the Cobnut itself is still moist, but it will slowly change to the drier nuttier taste of the Golden Cobnut.
