HOW TO ENJOY A NUT. 209 



whole if possible, introduce it into your mouth, not per se, by itself, 

 as is commonly done, but witli a small fragment of the shell, — a bit 

 of pin's head size "will do. Proceed now to masticate the delicious 

 morsel, and confess that there is a delicacy and flavour about a 

 hazel nut that you knew not how to extract in full, although in 

 your day you had cracked your bushels of them, imtil you were 

 taught it from Nether Lochaber. The philosophy of the thing is 

 that the particle of shell introduced with the kernel causes the act 

 of mastication to be performed more thoroughly than it otherwise 

 would be, setting free the fuU flavour and aroma — all, in short, 

 that a nut has to give. 



