Bright eyes and breathless; this is how love feels

[venta]

Well. That was unnecessarily exciting.

I, and a couple of colleagues, went shopping at lunchtime. And hjalfi bought some cobnuts, to find out what they were like.

So after my lunch, I ate a couple of cobnuts[*]. We hadn't realised that they were solid enough to require nutcrackers, so I cracked mine open with my teeth. And they're quite nice - interesting crunchy, juicy texture and a very mild flavour. I decided I quite liked them.

And then I noticed that the roof of my mouth was tingling. And the insides of my ears. And I thought, gosh. That's not ideal. I won't eat any more.

And a few minutes later I could feel a distinct lump-in-the-throat sensation that hadn't been there before. And was feeling a little breathless, and rather tight and wheezy about the lungs. And a bit dizzy.

Which wasn't great. I had told my colleagues this, so they'd have some idea what was going on if I toppled off my chair. As one of the work first aiders, I know perfectly well that allergic reactions weren't covered in our first aid course ;)

Anyway, about 90 minutes later and I'm back to normal (modulo a residual slightly sore throat, and the generally bizarre feelings you get from trying to over-analyse whether you feel ok or not). So, no harm done.

Using the absolutely-100%-reliable diagnosis-by-internet, I'm considering oral allergy syndrome and have filched an anti-histamine from a colleague. However, I suspect the best course of action from now on is "don't eat cobnuts".


[*] Which the internet tells me are the same as hazelnuts. Except these were the fresh kind, with green leaves still wrapping them.

Comments

[venta.livejournal.com]

I'm quite confused about cobnuts, still - particularly since most of the places I've seen them for sale have proudly trumpeted that they are English, and from the traditional cobnut plats of Kent. (Apparently a cobnut orchard is called a plat, I didn't know that). The cobnuts were definitely larger than hazels as I know them.

I haven't followed all the links from comments on your blog yet, maybe one of them will clear it up!

[sammason.livejournal.com]

I didn't know that about plats either. Get 2 academics onto a topic and things get nutty. What has a cobnut in every bite? PLATFORM! Even though this dictionary http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/platform fails to mention the platform as a useful item during cobnut harvest, I think that must be where the word came from.

The comments on my WP blog post include the words 'cobnut' and 'filbert' as well as 'hazelnut', with Latin names for 2 different trees. Crataegus spp.

[undyingking.livejournal.com]

IME, whatever botanists may say and what may happen elsewhere in the world, cobnuts as sold in British stores == fresh hazelnuts. There are different cultivars of course and some are bred for size, early readiness etc, but they're the same species.