In your article and recipe for an English version of tarta de Santiago (Feast, 28 September), the writer is seemingly confused about hazelnuts and cobnuts. Cobnuts are actually cultivated hazelnuts. Just as there are many different kinds of cultivated apples, such as Cox and Braeburn, there are different kinds of cultivated hazelnuts too. The National Fruit Collection at Brogdale, Kent, holds more than 50 varieties. Cultivated hazelnuts are all closely related to the wild hazel that grows in our woods and hedges. The best-known cobnuts are Kentish cobnuts (which include a number of varieties), but I have also seen Lincolnshire cobnuts and Exmoor cobnuts for sale.
Gillian Jones
Chair, Kentish Cobnuts Association
• Join the debate – email guardian.letters@theguardian.com
• Read more Guardian letters – click here to visit gu.com/letters
• Do you have a photo you’d like to share with Guardian readers? Click here to upload it and we’ll publish the best submissions in the letters spread of our print edition