Kaiyuan hazelnuts

Kaiyuan hazelnuts

Kaiyuan hazelnuts are a geographical indication certification trademark.

　　Kaiyuan hazelnuts are renowned across the land. Legend has it that during the early Qing Dynasty under Emperor Shunzhi, ministers visiting Tieling from the capital specifically asked for Kaiyuan hazelnuts. Upon returning to Beijing, they often presented them to the emperor and empress dowager. The imperial family, originally from the northeast, already knew that Kaiyuan hazelnuts were exceptionally delicious, and ordered the Shengjing Imperial Household Department to send annual tributes to the court. According to the Kaiyuan County Annals: “Hazelnuts are celebrated as a local specialty, with those from Meijiazhai being the most famous; in the early Qing Dynasty, they were offered as tribute.” The Fengtian General Annals record: “Fengtian hazelnuts are the most fragrant and delicious of any province, and those scorched by wildfire are especially fine. Those from Meijiazhai rank the highest in the entire province.” Dai Zi, an exile who lived in Tieling, had been an important official in the Southern Study during the reign of Emperor Kangxi in the Qing Dynasty. He was one of the rare arms scientists in Chinese history and was exiled to Tieling after inventing the “multi-barreled cannon,” which offended the Western missionary Ferdinand Verbiest. Accused of “colluding with the Japanese,” he was banished. In Tieling, Dai Zi lived a difficult life for 35 years, making a living by selling calligraphy and paintings. Historical records state that he “often spent winter nights wrapped in tattered cotton on cold kang beds, and in the early morning would tread on ice to go into the mountains to gather hazelnuts for food.”