Food For Thought…It’s Nuts!

Often, when people get together, the conversation eventually comes around to food.

Maybe, it’s lunchtime. Perhaps, you are at a social gathering and free food is all around you. Watching television, you could see ‘up to’ twenty-one food advertisements in one day. Or, there might just be a carton of ‘double chocolate-chip cookie’ ice cream’ calling out to you from the freezer. People think about food – a lot.

But, besides eating – food facts can be interesting to think about; especially, food that is good for you.

Question: “Is a nut really a fruit?”

Answer: “Yes, a nut is really a fruit!”.

Shhh…The Fruity Nut Has a Secret

In the real world of Botany (study of plants), a nut is classified as a ‘drupe’, which is a ‘one-seeded fruit with a hard or tough outer nutshell protecting an edible food inside. (Think of peaches and cherries).

Almonds, cashews, Brazil nuts, walnuts, pecans, macadamias, pistachios, pine nuts, are ‘drupes’, or ‘stone-fruits”. They have a woody, outer shell that can be opened to reveal a roundish, natural, dry, and crunchy ‘nut meat’. You can pick out this food, eat it, and discard the shell.

Now, the ‘true nuts’ come from ‘nut trees’ like the Chesnut, Oak – acorns, and Hazelnut. And – a peanut is actually a ‘legume’, a vegetable. So, if you eat a bag of salty, oily and satisfying peanuts, is that like having a cup of broccoli? (Mom would probably say, “no”.)

Beware!

Because scientists love to ‘classify’ things, and Master chefs are ‘food divas’, these little known distinctions in the food world are important to them. But, to the everyday squirrel and other nut-eaters, a nut by any other name would taste just as good!.

But, Do Be Aware…if you are allergic to ‘nuts’. Check with your parents to be sure.

So, just crack ’em open and enjoy. (And, by the way, a Coconut is still a fruit. ‘Coco’ is from the Spanish for ‘head’ or ‘skull’).

Did You Know?

Nuts are good for you! They are loaded with Protein (to build muscle); Fiber (to help you ‘poop’); and essential good fats, like Omega 3.
The ancient Greeks believed that Hazelnuts could cure coughing and baldness.
It takes 550 peanuts to make one 12-oz. jar of peanut butter.
National Cashew Day is November 23.
National Peanut Day is September 13.
National Macadamia Day is September 4.
National Walnut Day is May 17.
Walnuts are the oldest ‘fruit-nut’ in the world.
Shells of Cashews are toxic (poison).
Shells of Cashew are in the same family as Poison Ivy. Itchy oil in the shell.
Macadamia Nuts are not picked off the tree. They are harvested after they fall to the ground.