From Oregon State University's renowned hazelnut-breeding program, here's the latest scoop: Welcome Wepster, a new, high-yielding, blight-resistant hazelnut tree bred to fulfill the wishes of the chocolate industry.
In a competitive marketplace where bigger usually is better, Wepster is being hailed for its petite nut — a suitable trait for some of the world's most famous chocolatiers with persnickety specs. Indeed, to fit into their precisely engineered candy-making processes (think tender, little morsel centered in a Ferrero Rocher chocolate truffle), only hazelnuts with a diameter of 11 to 13 millimeters will do.