15 types of nuts: 2022 ranking. Title, description, photo

Nuts are a group of different fruits consisting of a dry woody shell (shell) and an edible kernel (seed) enclosed in it. In everyday life and trade, the most common nuts include: peanuts (groundnuts), walnuts, hazelnuts, hazelnuts, pine nuts, almonds and pistachios.

Nuts are a versatile and healthy product. Even in ancient times, ancient tribes used nuts to suppress strong feelings of hunger. This fruit is truly rich in vitamins and mineral trace elements that fill the body with missing substances. Each nut fruit is in a hard shell, which protects the edible part of the nut from various damages.

Hazelnut

The hazel genus has about 20 species. But only forms that produce large fruits are called hazelnuts. Their habitat is Western Asia and Europe.

These are deciduous shrubs and sometimes trees. Their leaves are broadly oval, quite large in size, lighter on the underside, and the central vein is pubescent. There are also red-leaved forms. The fruits - nuts - are formed from female flowers, which are located in pairs in the axils of the bracts. Compared to hazel, the fruits are larger and the hard shell surrounding the core is thinner. Thanks to selection, many varieties with high yields have appeared.

All parts of a hazelnut are used:

• tea from the leaves is drunk as a diuretic;
• A yellow pigment is extracted from the bark and is used to dye leather;
• the wood is used to make small-sized carpentry crafts; it is hard, but at the same time easy to process;
• The branches are suitable for weaving baskets and other products.

Hazelnuts are decorative and are often used in landscape design.

But the main value of the plant is its nuts. This is a high-calorie product (100 g of kernels contains more than 600 kcal). Therefore, you should not get carried away with nuts, especially for those who are watching their figure. According to nutritionists, the daily norm should be about 40 g.

Of all the vitamins necessary for humans, hazelnuts only lack D and B12. Even 40 g of kernels contains almost the daily requirement of vitamin E.

Important! In order for the nuts to bring the most benefits, it is better to eat them before 16 hours, without first frying them.

Read: 28 of the most exotic fruits, vegetables and berries from around the world

Macadamia is what lowers blood cholesterol

If you don't know what nuts to eat for cholesterol, choose macadamia nuts. How are these nuts and cholesterol in the blood connected? It's all about palmitoleic acid (omega-7), which nuts contain. In 100 gr. Its product contains as much as 25% of the daily requirement. Thanks to omega-7, macadamia can be recommended as one of the foods that effectively reduces blood cholesterol. Of course, with an integrated approach to the problem.

Cholesterol-lowering nuts and the real benefits of omega-7

Macadamia palmitoleic acid lowers total cholesterol and triglycerides, increases HDL (“good” cholesterol) levels, and reduces LDL (“bad” cholesterol) levels. Therefore, it is advisable to use these nuts against cholesterol.

What additional treatment does macadamia nut have? The omega-7 it contains has a positive effect on carbohydrate and fat metabolism (even helps you lose weight), reduces leptin and insulin resistance, blood sugar levels, and weakens inflammatory processes. These are pleasant bonuses for anyone who is thinking not only about which nuts lower cholesterol, but also trying to cope with other health problems.

Macadamia for cholesterol is good because it reduces many vascular risks associated with lipid profile disorders, high cholesterol levels, inflammation against the background of elevated homocysteine ​​levels. Did you know that it is homocysteine ​​that causes sudden death from a blood clot, and not cholesterol?

Read more in the article: What to do if cholesterol is high, and why is homocysteine ​​more dangerous?

Almond

Almonds are a distant relative of plums; they belong to the same genus. In the wild, it lives on rocky soils that are rich in calcium. It often grows on mountain slopes, climbing to heights of up to 2500 m.

This is a branched tree or bush with narrow leaves with a sharp apex. Almond flowers bloom before the leaves appear. They reach 2.5 cm in diameter, the petals are white or pink, and there are decorative double forms.

Flowering lasts up to 2 weeks, in warm regions already in February. At this time, the tree is very vulnerable to frost. In general, almonds are quite frost-resistant; they tolerate frosts down to -25 degrees. A well-developed branched root system allows the plant to survive without water for a long time.

In place of the flowers, dry, velvety, pubescent oval drupes with a leathery, inedible shell are formed, which from a botanical point of view are not nuts. This is a stone fruit.

Cultivated almonds have a sweet kernel, which cannot be said about wild species. Their bitter seeds contain the glycoside amygdalin. When broken down, it forms poisonous hydrocyanic acid with a characteristic odor.

Almonds are used in cooking more often than other nuts; they go well with any type of dough. There are many desserts in which almonds are the main ingredient. From them you can prepare milk, which is a substitute for cow's milk, and valuable edible oil.

Important! With regular consumption of almonds, the composition of the intestinal microbiome improves; it has an anti-aging effect, slowing down skin aging.

water chestnut

The oldest nut is water chestnut. Chilim grows in the vast expanses of Africa and Asia in water bodies, no matter how strange it sounds. The plant blooms in summer with small white flowers, and by autumn many nuts ripen in the flower.

• Plot near a pond: nuances of choice
• Which fast-growing shrubs are suitable for green fences?
• Juniper stricta - description, cultivation, planting and care. Secrets of garden maintenance and application in landscape design (130 photos and videos)

Gretsky

Walnut, or Voloshsky nut, belongs to the nut family. This majestic, strong tree is long-lived, growing up to 25 m and with almost the same crown diameter. The fruits are false drupes. Inside the hard shell there is a core, which consists of two folded cotyledons, covered with a thin light or dark, depending on the variety, shell. It is this that gives the astringency to walnuts.

Uses of walnut:

• wood is a valuable species;
• Healing tinctures and decoctions are prepared from the green parts - pericarp and leaves (the ascorbic acid content in them reaches 4.5 g per 100 g - this is 3 times higher than that of rose hips);
• Jam is made from green fruits.

But the tree’s most valuable thing is its ripe nuts, which can be collected as early as September, and sometimes in October.

Walnuts contain a lot of melatonin, a hormone responsible for proper sleep.

Important! The purified product is not stored for more than six months, in the shell - only for a year.

Peanut

Peanuts are popularly called groundnuts because they grow underground. It is grown on a huge scale in Asia, China, the southern regions of the USA, and Russia. Unfortunately, peanuts have harsh weather conditions; the plant loves warmth and light. One peanut plant bears a large number of fruits. Peanuts are harvested with the arrival of autumn.

Cashew

The homeland of Anacardium occidentalis is Brazil. It can also be found in Africa and Asia. This is an evergreen tree, not exceeding 10 m in height, with a wide, often asymmetrical crown.

After flowering, the juicy stalk grows and turns into a fruit resembling a pear or a heart, sometimes called a “cashew apple.” The nut, surrounded by a double shell, grows at the top of the fruit. Inside it lies a nucleus similar in shape to a human kidney.

Between the outer and inner shell there is a caustic phenolic resin that can cause burns. The pulp of raw nuts contains the toxin cardol; heat treatment neutralizes it.

Cashews are used not only for making desserts, they are added to meat or rice, and various sauces are made from them.

Compared to other nuts, allergic reactions to cashews are less common, affecting approximately 6% of consumers. 100 g of nuts contain a third of the daily value of selenium.

Negative effects of nuts

With unlimited consumption of walnuts, it is possible to gain extra pounds, since 100 grams of this product contains 645 kcal.

It is forbidden to consume this nut for people with psoriasis or eczema, because this disease can be greatly aggravated. There are cases where people have had an upset stomach after eating walnuts.

Experts recommend that pregnant women take special care when consuming peanuts, only without salt, as an allergic reaction may occur.

• How to grow a plum from a seed: tips and tricks on how to prepare the soil, prepare fertilizers and grow plums at home (155 photos + video)
• Do-it-yourself columnar foundation for a gazebo: instructions, diagrams, calculations
• How to choose the right fruit trees and shrubs for planting

Cashew nuts can be a strong allergen; doctors generally do not recommend consuming them for children. This nut can also negatively affect the liver.

If you overeat almonds, severe headaches, flatulence, and even diarrhea in some cases are possible, and if you eat pine nuts, you may experience nausea with persistent bitterness in the mouth.

One of the most delicious Brazil nuts can cause flaking of the skin, hair loss, brittle nails and sensitive tooth enamel.

Cedar

There are two inaccuracies in the name pine nut: this product is the seeds, and not of cedar, since they are inedible, but of several types of cedar pines:

• European;
• Siberian;
• Korean;
• cedar dwarf.

All of them grow in different regions of Russia. These are majestic coniferous trees 40-60 m high. The only exception is dwarf cedar - its branches spread along the ground, rising to a height of no more than 50 cm. It lives in regions with a harsh climate. An abundant harvest of cones occurs every 3-10 years. They mature within 14-15 months, and sometimes up to 3 years. The size of the cones varies slightly among different species, but the seeds are almost the same:

• weight - about 0.25 g;
• length - from 7 to 9 mm.

Under the hard dark shell lies a delicate, oily, light kernel.

Pine nuts are one of the highest in calories due to their high fat content - 68.4%, but it is mainly represented by unsaturated fatty acids. Their shelf life is short - in purified form no more than 3 months, preferably in the refrigerator. In the shell - six months.

The reason for this is the rapid oxidation of fatty acids. Stale nuts can lead to poisoning. The peeled fruits and nuts of the Mediterranean pine, a relative of cedar pines, are stored even shorter: no more than 2 weeks. But this does not prevent the widespread use of pinoli (the Italian name for pine seeds) in cooking. Among all pine trees, its seeds are the largest - up to 2 cm in length.

There are other pines that produce edible nuts:

• Gerard pine - grows in the Himalayas;
• Colorado pine - lives in North America;
• Mexican pine.

Read: 24 types of dried fruits - the most delicious and most healthy

Pistachios

The pistachio genus is not numerous. The largest fruits are produced by the true pistachio, otherwise known as the pistachio tree, which was introduced into cultivation in ancient times. Its habitat is the mountains of Central Asia, Syria, Iran, Afghanistan. The plant is also cultivated in other countries with similar climatic conditions:

• long dry and hot summers;
• with winter frosts not lower than -30 degrees.

Pistachio loves rocky soils rich in calcium.

Biological features:

• bush or tree up to 10 m high with several trunks;
• hemispherical crown;
• the root system is deep and branched;
• leathery light green leaves are shiny on top, slightly pubescent on the underside;
• on one tree there are male and female flowers that bloom in May;
• Fruit ripening begins in July and continues until September;
• these are broadly ovoid drupes up to 1.5 cm long and up to 0.8 cm wide;
• inside there are greenish kernels with a high fat content.

The pistachio has one peculiarity - it does not like the proximity of its own kind, so pistachio forests are always sparse: the trees grow no closer than 5 m from each other.

The nutritional value of pistachios is unique:

• the ratio of amino acids, minerals and vitamins in them is optimal;
• to get the daily requirement of vitamins B6, it is enough to eat 10 nuts;
• 30 g of pistachios has the same amount of fiber as 1 serving of oatmeal;
• These nuts have a record tannin content, due to this they can be used as an antidote for poisoning with heavy metal salts.

In cooking, pistachios are used to prepare desserts, salads, and hot dishes.

Macadamia

This nut has almost everything “very best”:

• hard shell;
• calorie content;
• price.

We are talking about the Australian nut, or macadamia. A tree with smooth oblong leathery leaves grows up to 15 m in height.

Cream-colored spike-shaped inflorescences up to 30 cm long give life to round fruits with a cone-shaped crown up to 4 cm in diameter. Under the soft green and hard dark shell hides a white or light beige core up to 2 cm in diameter with a slight vanilla scent.

The homeland of macadamia is Australia; now there are plantations of this nut on all continents. For comfortable growth of macadamia, you need fertile soil, a lot of light and heat, and sufficient rainfall. Strong winds, which are not uncommon in the tropics, damage plantations.

After ripening, the nuts are collected by hand. They are immediately cleared of the green shell and dried for 3 weeks.

It is not easy to remove the hard shell from the nut, so manufacturers make a longitudinal cut on it. A special T-shaped key is included with the nuts. It is inserted into the slot and turned - the shell breaks into two halves.

Most often, macadamia is consumed raw - the norm is 40 g per day. You can add it to desserts.

Important! Nutritionists advise soaking macadamia nuts in cold water for 2 hours before eating.

Conditions for walnut trees

These are fastidious crops that require the following conditions:

• Temperature
  , no changes up or down. Climate change can single-handedly destroy an entire crop of nuts, so when growing produce on your own plot, create an unshakable temperature.
• Consistent moisture levels
  are also important for productive nut growth. Watering and spraying should be done on a regular basis.
• Height
  , oddly enough, affects the rate and direction of nut growth. The fact is that at too high altitudes or in lowlands, nuts will not reach their potential. Keep in mind.
• Sunlight
  . A bright spectrum is necessary for all varieties of nuts.
• Fertilizers
  are applied rarely, only 2 times a year. You can only use mineral and phosphorus fertilizers, only the first sample.

Walnut
More about the advantages of nuts that distinguish this product from others.

1. Certain types contain more nutrients than popular vegetables.
2. At the same time, the nuts have a long shelf life, since the dense and thick shell prevents the pulp from contacting oxygen.
3. Among all, it is easy to identify popular varieties of nuts such as almonds, cashews, Brazil nuts, kola nuts, pecans, water nuts and pine nuts.
4. In any case, as with any other food product, you should be careful with nuts. Do not get carried away with eating these fruits, so as not to cause allergic reactions and other discomfort. It is much better to eat a small amount of nuts, and of different types.

You will enrich your body with useful substances without harming yourself. Regular, but moderate, use of nuts will have a positive effect on your health. In just a short time, you will definitely feel an emotional uplift, improved sleep and, of course, normalization of the digestive system.

Pecan

Pecan, or hazelnut, is a distant relative of the walnut; they belong to the same nut family. This majestic deciduous tree can grow up to 65 m in height with a trunk diameter of up to 2.5 m. The crown reaches a diameter of 40 m.

At the ends of young shoots, male flowers are formed in the form of drooping earrings and female spike-shaped inflorescences. The wind pollinates them. Pecans bloom at the end of May, nuts ripen in October.

Its fruits, false drupes, are a bit like walnuts, but they are more elongated and smooth. Under the hard skin lies an oily core, consisting of two parts, separated by a very thin shell.

Pecans contain 72% fat, mostly unsaturated fatty acids, including almost a day's worth of omega-3. Carbohydrates are represented by sucrose, so the nut has a pronounced sweetish, mild taste and no astringency at all.

Pecans are used to make desserts, added to coffee, and go well with trout and chicken.

Pecans are native to the southern states of the United States; this country is still the leader in its production.

Important! Due to the fact that fatty acids are easily oxidized, peeled nuts are stored only in the refrigerator.

How to choose and store nuts at home

Unfortunately, a large number of low-quality goods are sold on the shelves of stores and markets, so read our article “Where to buy and how to choose dried fruits and nuts” so as not to harm your health. It is recommended to store nuts in a glass or wooden container with a tight lid.

Excellent storage conditions - dry, dark, cool. The product is stored in the refrigerator for approximately 4 months, in the freezer - six months. Warmth and humidity are a good environment for fungal growth. If mold appears on the nuts, be sure to throw them away, as they have lost their beneficial properties and become toxic. To prevent this from happening, we advise you to follow the above rules and buy nuts in small quantities.

Brazilian

Bertoletia, or Brazil nut, is the tallest tree in the Amazon rainforest. It reaches a height of 45 m and lives for more than 500 years. The trunk branches only in the upper part, forming a spherical crown.

Flowers with a light aroma are collected in brushes. Their fused stamens form a kind of hood. They are pollinated exclusively by bumblebees or large bees that live only in virgin forests. Therefore, cultivated Brazil nut plantations are few in number and do not bring economic benefits.

The Brazil nut fruit looks like a coconut, its diameter is 15 cm. Ripening lasts up to 14 months. Inside the hard shell there are up to 24 triangular-shaped grains up to 5 cm long, they are covered with a hard skin.

The nuts are collected exclusively by hand after they have fallen from the tree. From a botanical point of view, bertholia seeds are not nuts. But in size they are the largest of all those consumed by humans.

But this is not their only “record”:

• 100 g of product contains almost half the daily requirement of vitamin B1;
• a third - vitamin E;
• 94% - magnesium;
• 34% - zinc.

Brazil nuts contain a huge amount of selenium: 10 g of nuts contain 3 daily values. Such a rich composition makes this product unique. The daily norm is no more than 3 nuts.

Important! The peel contains toxic substances; the nuts must be carefully peeled.

Reproduction

Today, two main methods of propagation are used: nuts and grafting. The first method has a significant drawback - a nut tree will produce fruits only in the 10th year of life, not earlier, but they will certainly differ from those of the mother. Modern hybrids and varieties are propagated by grafting onto winter-hardy wild varieties; they can be found in any garden nursery. Such specimens begin to bear fruit in the 3rd or 4th year after planting.

If the seed method is chosen, then ripe walnuts are collected in the fall. Collected in September, peeled from pericarp and dried, ripe nuts are placed in the refrigerator for 3 months for stratification to improve germination. Planting is carried out in April in open ground to a depth of 12 cm. The seedlings require mandatory shelter for the winter in the next 5-6 years.

You can also grow walnuts from root shoots. Its characteristics are identical to garden seedlings, that is, such trees will begin to bear fruit earlier - in the 3rd or 4th year after planting. The only drawback is that the fruits will be the same as the root part should be. This means that in grafted specimens the root shoots will not produce the same nuts as the parent crown.

Muscat

In appearance, the nutmeg kernel is similar to a walnut. But they use it differently: they grind it and use it as a spice for any dish: sweet or salty. It's hard to find a product whose taste it couldn't improve.

The habitat of the evergreen fragrant nutmeg, which produces fruits called nutmeg, is the Banda Islands, part of Indonesia. It was from there that valuable spice was imported to Europe. Nutmeg is now grown not only in Indonesia, but also in India, Grenada, Sri Lanka and the Caribbean.

An evergreen tree with smooth leathery leaves blooms for the first time in its sixth year. In place of small flowers of light yellow color, collected in umbrellas of 20 pieces, round fruits up to 9 cm long are formed. They are yellow and look like apricots.

After ripening, the fruits burst, exposing a large stone with a reddish color. After drying, it is also used as a spice. The stone contains an ovoid core up to 3 cm long, gray-brown in color with winding veins that are clearly visible on the cut.

The larger the nut, the more essential oils it contains. Their number is also determined by the dark spots on the surface in which they are contained.

Important! A single dose of more than 30 g has a hallucinogenic and psychotropic effect, and can sometimes even be fatal.

Read: types of fish that are tasty and healthy

Magic fruit

Miracle fruit, or sweet berries, are very strange berries native to West Africa. What makes these fruits strange? The fruits contain large quantities of the sugar substitute miraculin in combination with glycoprotein. The fruit itself does not have a very sweet taste, but after a person eats it, the glycoprotein binds to the taste buds located on the human tongue and turns the taste of any product into sweet within about an hour. This way you can eat a whole lemon and it will taste like sweet syrup.

In the 70s, attempts were made to commercially sell the fruit as a dietary product, since it can transform any food into sweetness, without affecting the amount of calories consumed. However, it was not possible to achieve success in this field.

Manchurian

The Manchurian walnut has a spreading openwork crown, somewhat reminiscent of a palm tree. The tree can grow up to 28 m in height. Flowering occurs in May, nuts ripen from August to October.

The habitat of the Manchurian walnut is China, the Far East, and the Korean Peninsula. Its special decorativeness and rapid growth have become the reason for its widespread spread to other territories.

This is the closest relative of the walnut, which is why their fruits are similar. The nutritional value is not much different. But the shell of the Manchurian nut is much thicker, and there are many partitions inside. Therefore, it is difficult to obtain the kernel, and its yield is small - no more than 19% of the total weight. Nuts are eaten fresh and used in cooking.

Important! The leaves of the tree secrete a lot of phytoncides that repel insects.

Cola

Legends were made about the amazing tonic properties of the kola nut in its homeland, Africa. Scientists' studies have confirmed that there are no exaggerations: there is 3 times more caffeine in these nuts than in coffee. Its combination with theobromine and collatin gives such an amazing effect.

Kola nuts ripen on evergreen trees of the same name, whose height reaches 20 m. They are found in leathery or woody leaflets, painted dark brown, 7-9 pieces each. The oblong-shaped nuts are quite large - they can reach up to 5 cm in length.

They contain up to 60% water, so the inhabitants of Africa quenched not only their hunger, but also their thirst. Nuts can be eaten raw or dried, added as a seasoning to dishes, or prepared as a tonic drink by grinding them into powder.

Not everyone likes the bitter pulp; a tonic effect can be achieved by simply chewing it and spitting it out. The unique properties of cola were used by manufacturers of popular drinks: Pepsi Cola and Coca-Cola.

Important! Due to their strong tonic effect, it is better to consume nuts in the first half of the day to avoid insomnia.

Diseases and pests

Due to waterlogging of the soil and excessive application of nitrogen fertilizers, fungal diseases - marsoniosis and bacteriosis - may appear on walnut leaves. They appear in the form of black, brown or gray spots. For prevention, you should strictly follow the dosage of fertilizers, in the spring you should clear the trunk circles of weeds, and cut out the affected branches. Also, before the buds open, spray the crown with a 1% solution of copper sulfate.

Brown growths on the roots and in the lower part of the trunk are root cancer, which affects young plants more. It is necessary to cut out the formation and treat the cleaned sections with caustic soda, and then rinse with water.

Spring whitewashing of trunks helps prevent aphids and caterpillars from attacking garden crops. For preventive purposes, spraying with Aktara, Antitlin or Actellik is carried out twice with an interval of 7 days at the end of April.

Seychellois

Lodoicea maldives is endemic to the Seychelles. This relict palm produces the largest seeds, which are called Seychelles nuts, otherwise known as coco de mer. Mature nuts can weigh more than 25 kg and reach a meter in girth.

Their unusual shape resembles a woman's buttocks or a double coconut. The fruits ripen for a long time - from 7 to 10 years, and the palm tree begins to bear fruit at the age of twenty-five.

Seychelles nuts were credited with amazing healing properties; in the Middle Ages they were considered a cure for all diseases.

Under the hard woody shell, two fingers thick, the nut beginning to ripen contains a jelly-like substance with a pleasant, slightly sweet taste. After some time it hardens and becomes like ivory. The pulp is added to various dishes, cocktails and beer are made from it.

Not everyone can try it - you will have to pay for a permit to export the nut, and the nut itself is not cheap. Local residents make crafts from the shells, which are eagerly snapped up by tourists.

Name and description of other types: oblong, round, fragrant

Coconut

The fruits of the coconut palm are much smaller than the sea coconut, but are much more common. The exact place where this species originated is unknown - scientists suggest that the original habitat of coconuts was the territory of modern Malaysia.

Due to the fact that the fruit of the coconut palm tolerates travel well on the sea waves, the wild palm has spread to tropical coastal regions of both hemispheres. Man, having appreciated the taste and benefits of coconut since ancient times, began to artificially plant these trees even where currents could not carry them.

Coconut fruits reach a weight of 2.5 - 3 kg and are used:

• As a source of refreshing drink - coconut milk made from unripe nuts.
• As a source of edible oily coconut pulp (copra).
• As an oilseed crop. Coconut oil is used in the traditional cuisine of all tropical countries where palm trees grow. In addition, it is an excellent cosmetic product.
• To obtain copra - strong fibers from which ropes, paper, and stuffing for high-quality mattresses are made.

Durian

This fruit is classified as a nut only formally, due to the fact that it has a strong shell. Otherwise, the genus of plants of the Malvaceae family grows in the tropical forests of Southeast Asia and produces extremely unique fruits:

• The fruits of cultivated durian have a diameter of up to 30 cm and weigh up to 5 kg. Each fruit is surrounded by a very hard shell, which is also covered with sharp thorns.
• Locals say about durian: “Hell outside, heaven inside.” The fruits of this plant have a delicate texture and great taste (it is described as a combination of nuts, cheese, custard, banana and vanilla ice cream) - but on the outside they are protected not only by thorns, but also by an extremely disgusting smell. Because of this, workers at durian farms plantations are forced to care for the plant in respirators, and bringing fresh fruit into a public place or transport in many countries of Southeast Asia is fraught with a serious fine.

Important!

Because of the smell, durians in the places where they are grown are often served only in special “durian cafes”, where there is a separate room for cutting and disposal of the “fragrant” peel and seeds.

Chestnut

Edible chestnut (also known as sowing chestnut, noble chestnut) is a plant of the Chestnut genus of the Beech family. Grows in humid subtropical climates - in the Mediterranean, the Caucasus, etc. Its fruits are nuts weighing up to 25 g, which grow in small quantities (usually in triplets, but up to 7 small ones can occur) in a spiny capsule-plus.

Chestnut fruits can be eaten raw, but are usually baked, fried or boiled, and also ground into flour used to prepare complex dishes. Edible chestnuts play an important role in French cuisine, especially Corsican cuisine.

Walnuts

Walnuts are any fruits of trees of the genus Walnut of the Nut family. Its original habitat was Transcaucasia, but later the plant was distributed from the Balkan Peninsula to northern China and from northern India to the shores of the Baltic Gulf.

Walnut fruits are drupe-shaped nuts. When young, they are covered with a fleshy green shell with a characteristic pungent odor and pungent, coloring juice, but in a mature nut the peel bursts in half and the shell-covered fruit falls out freely.

Advice

The size of large walnut varieties reaches 10 cm, and the weight can be 17-20 g, of which more than half is the edible kernel. Walnut kernels are used for food both raw and as part of culinary products and desserts.

In addition, the kernels of the nuts are used to obtain oil, which can be used both as food and for the production of high-quality varnishes and ink for painting, for making soap and as a cosmetic product.

Any nut can be considered large if its size is larger than the average norm characteristic of its species. However, those that are considered large in their kind are completely lost against the background of the fruits of other nut trees or palms.

Hazel

Hazel, or hazelnut, is common in Eurasia and North America. Most often it is a deciduous shrub, sometimes a tree with large, broadly oval leaves. The fruits are nuts with a hard shell, under which lies a slightly elongated kernel. The length of the nuts is about 18 mm, width up to 15 mm. The shell is colored light or dark brown. Hazel blooms before the leaves bloom, and the nuts ripen at the end of August.

The kernels can be eaten raw or roasted, in which case they taste better, but some of the nutrients are lost. Nuts are valued not only for their wonderful taste:

• they contain a lot of vitamins, especially a lot of vitamin E - 100 g more than the daily norm;
• 3 norms of thiamine;
• double iron requirement.

Nuts are used to prepare confectionery products, and oil is squeezed out of them.

Important! Daily norm - 50 g.

Beneficial features

Nuts are valued as tasty and high-calorie foods, rich in fat, proteins, mineral salts and other beneficial substances.

Nutrient content of nuts (average percentage per 100 g of edible portion)

Nuts are undoubtedly a healthy product. The man had long ago figured out his secret. Eating it daily helps to significantly improve immunity and remove toxins from the body.

They are often used as a snack - this is quite justified. After all, the kernels contain many useful and nutrients that allow you to quickly get enough of a small amount of food.

But roasted nuts with dried fruits are an excellent light and healthy breakfast or dinner.

In folk medicine, walnuts are successfully used to treat diseases of the thyroid gland, immune and cardiovascular systems. Cedar kernels are used to strengthen the general condition , and the famous alcohol infusions will help cope with joint diseases and colds.

It is recommended to eat several nuts daily, for example, hazelnuts, walnuts, cashews or other available ones, this will allow the body to get a boost of energy for the whole day.