Nutty delight
The hazelnut is finally here to add that extra crunch to
your food bite. Aditi Gangavkar explores this new arrival
Here's a piece of good news for
anybody and everybody who is nuts
about nuts! In addition to the usual
almonds and pistachios, you can now have
your fill of hazelnuts, as The Turkish Hazelnut
Promotion Group (HPG) has recently
launched the marketing of this produce in the
country. Eyeing the untapped demand for
hazelnuts by processors and consumers in
the rapidly evolving and growing Indian food
market, HPG has appointed The SCS Group,
one of the leading food marketing advisory
firms in the country, to manage trade and
consumer promotions for Turkish hazelnuts
in the country.
Interestingly, in the Indian context, the
hazelnut holds immense trade potential. It
can be used as an ingredient for the food
industry (in sectors such as confectionery, icecream
etc.,) as well as a part of the dry fruit
gift basket. Besides, this Turkish wonder has
lots of nutritional benefits as well. It is a rich
source of energy, protein, essential fatty acids,
vitamins and minerals and has no
cholesterol content.
Also, thanks to its rich content of vitamin
E, fibre, arginine and magnesium, hazelnuts
are suggested as natural preventive nutrients,
especially for heart diseases and embolism.
Then again, it is believed that a handful of
hazelnuts a day gives energy, reduces
cholesterol, helps to prevent diabetes, heart
diseases and hypertension and provides an
important supplement to dietary treatment.
The SCS Group is quite excited to bring
this traditional Turkish delight to India and
are sure that discerning Indian consumers
used to buying these delicacies abroad, can
now look forward to their availability in
neighbourhood stores very soon. The Group's
marketing action plan would include
approaching companies and institutions to
introduce them to Turkish hazelnuts for usage
in different food products. It would focus on
technical trade assistance, merchandising,
trade outreach, consumer education, training
and trade shows. Similarly, though the price
aspect of hazelnuts would be left to the
market forces to decide, these figures are
likely to be somewhere in the 10 per cent
vicinity of almonds.
To begin with 3-4 pallets of hazelnut
would arrive in the market. This quantity
would then increase with the demand and
market creation for all forms of the nut. In
the long term, The SCS Group hopes to
attract 10-15 per cent of the almonds
markets, which is almost 5,000-10,000 MT.
Facts about hazelnuts
Turkey is the country of origin and the most
important destination for hazelnuts in the
world. Hazelnuts usually ripen between early
and late August depending on the altitude of
the orchard and climatic conditions and are
handpicked from trees and dried in the sun.
Turkish hazelnuts are available in several
forms such as bleached, roasted, chopped, oil
roasted/salted, hazel nut cream and hazelnutpaste
nougats. They add a unique flavour
and texture to chocolate, pastry,
confectionery, bakery, dairy, cereal, salad and
dessert formulations.
So, go ahead, crack the nuts!
....C
O N T D
TO
READ FURTHER... SUBSCRIBE TO YOUR
COPY TODAY!!!
