Nuts

Nuts, in the kitchen sense, are hard-shelled seeds and kernels, most of them rich in oil, eaten raw, roasted, salted or spiced. Botanists count only hard-shelled fruits with a single seed, such as hazelnuts and chestnuts, as true nuts.

How to choose Nuts

  • Salted or unsalted. Salted nuts keep less time than plain ones or blanched ones, which have had their skins removed. Salted nuts suit a bowl that will empty fast.
  • Shelled or in the shell. Shelled kernels take up moisture and outside smells more readily, so they need airtight packing. Nuts in the shell keep about as long as shelled ones, and almonds and walnuts a little longer.
  • Protected names. Hazelnuts sold as Nocciola Piemonte carry PGI status, an EU protection for foods linked to one region. To earn it, the nut must be the Tonda Gentile Trilobata variety: round, three-lobed, mostly 17 to 21 millimeters across and crunchy, with a skin that slips off after roasting.

About Nuts

Nuts as cooks use the word include almonds, cashews, pistachios, pecans, walnuts and hazelnuts, though few of them are true nuts. Almonds, cashews and pistachios are drupes, fruits with a fleshy outer layer around a shelled seed, and the seed is the part we eat. Walnuts and pecans sit in between and are sometimes called drupaceous nuts.

After harvest, nuts are dried, and many are then shelled and roasted. For the Piedmont PGI hazelnut, only 40 to 50 percent of the weight is kernel once the shell is gone.

Keep nuts sealed, cool and away from strong smells. Serve them with drinks, or chop them over salads and grain bowls.

At a glance

Main types
Almonds, cashews, pistachios, pecans, walnuts, hazelnuts, peanuts
Label terms
Raw, roasted, blanched, salted, PGI
Unopened
Packaged kernels about 4 months in the cupboard
Once opened
Refrigerate; about 2 weeks at room temperature

Nuts questions

How do I keep nuts from going rancid?

Nuts are rich in oil, and warmth and moisture speed rancidity, the stale, bitter taste of oil gone off, while strong smells nearby get absorbed into the kernels. University of California guidance gives most shelled nuts about a year in a refrigerator at 32 to 45°F. In a freezer at 0°F, walnuts and pecans keep 2 years or more and pistachios about 3. Airtight containers stop the kernels from picking up other smells.

Is a peanut a nut?

Not botanically. Peanuts are legumes, members of the pea family, so their nearest kitchen relatives are beans, lentils and chickpeas rather than walnuts. Cooks still use them as nuts, because they are roasted, salted, spiced and eaten by the handful the same way. That is why a mixed nut tin can hold peanuts.

Sources: University of California Agriculture and Natural Resources; McGill University Office for Science and Society; Nocciola del Piemonte PGI specification.

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