I have a couple of native Texas pecan trees. They’re ok, but the amount of shell you have to get through to get to the teeny-tiny nut just isn’t worth it. My dad had a couple of pecan trees he planted and doted over (not sure what variety). Their nuts were delicious, and I hope the current owners of that house are willing to collect the 10-20 gallons of nuts they can easily produce in a year.
Hehehe, my neighbors have one that overhangs our property. The first time I saw them, I was astounded at how much shell they had vs. the amount of nut. The squirrels seem very happy to squeak their way through them, so they must be tasty. I’ve only had black walnuts in ice cream, and I can’t say they’d be worth getting through that much shell.
Myself, I like nuts very much. But my favorite is the peanut. It’s not technically a nut, but I’ll shell the salted in the shell ones all day long. If you follow the Chex mix recipe to the letter and use a cup of mixed nuts instead of peanuts, I’ll feel cheated.
Nuts I really like are peanuts, hazelnuts, macadamias, pecans, pine nuts, and chestnuts. I’m okay with Brazil nuts and cashews, but they’re a bit bland. Walnuts are quite bitter to me, but I like them okay flavored (sugar/salt mixtures) or candied.
Almonds, I really only like sliced and toasted, or flavored as per walnuts above.
Not a fan of hazelnuts, but I’ll put up with the taste if there’s enough choclate (Nutella). I don’t care for the texture of macadamia nuts - they’re okay if they are cut up small. Brazil nuts are in the same category, but I don’t know of any recipes that call for Brazil nuts.
Cashews are my favorite, especially dry roasted. I prefer peanuts and pistachios still in their shells. And smoked almonds don’t last long around here.
If I can get my hands on black walnut candy (like this), I might share, but not likely.
Unfortunately walnuts often taste rancid to me, so it’s rare that I find walnuts that don’t have that taste. For that reason I’ll often use pecans instead of walnuts for cookies.
Not actually a nut, but I recently discovered Baru Seeds which are also known as Baru nuts. Yum!
Nuts are dangerous. They are too damn delicious. They’re so calorie-dense that I could ingest an unholy amount of calories (not to mention sodium) in the blink of an eye if I’m not vigilant.
Yeah, that’s my problem too. Not salted, but just regular mixed nuts still in the shell. Haven’t eaten myself into symptoms of selenium poisoning yet with the brazil nuts, but I’ve still got a few pounds of nuts sitting here beckoning me.
A big bowl filled with mixed nuts was a holiday tradition when I was growing up. My mom had a really nice heirloom carved teak bowl and a classic vintage metal nutcracker and picks. My favorites were pecans, hazelnuts, and Brazils.
This might drive you crazy, but a nut thread just isn’t complete without this clip from Best In Show
How unhealthy? Mostly when people eat more nuts it is not added to their other calories; people tend to eat less otherwise. High satiety.
Nuts are probably a large portion of my daily calorie intake. Mostly unsalted raw almonds with a few dried cherries or apricots or with an apple brought with me but also out of bags of mixed nuts bought at Costco. I live off them at work.
I have heard that California Almonds consume a huge amount of the state’s water resources. I have tried google but the sites I have tried seem to have an agenda.
Never met a nut I didn’t like. We can’t have them in the house - though there are, apparently, some in the house at the moment, hidden from me; so I don’t know what or where. Very wise.
Macadamia nuts are problematic. It’s not that I don’t love them (of course I do); it’s the realization that if you could get a wick into them they would work as candles - there’s that much oil in them - that gives even me pause for thought.
Well, depending on time of day, I will gorge myself to a greater or lesser extent. If I sit down to the table for a few for breakfast, I will eat enough to not be hungry for the rest of the day, sometimes well into evening depending on how active I am that day. The later in the day, the less nuts I eat. I don’t eat nuts like that everyday though, I actually made myself feel ill a couple of weeks ago from over eating nuts, so now I control myself more rigorously. I still seem to lose myself in the ritual and texture and flavors of cracking open a shell and getting the meat out and eating it though.
Hello, my name is Dork Vader and I’m addicted to nuts.
I haven’t tried to buy any, but my childhood memory was that these were commonly sold around Christmas time. I remember getting unshelled almonds in my Christmas stocking every year.
My grandmother had walnut trees lining her driveway, and as kids we’d take the fallen nuts and throw them as hard as we could against her concrete driveway to open them. I’ve had a love for walnuts ever since. Sadly, the 10/405 interchange “took” that house, so they’re long gone. I think my love for walnuts has contributed to my fondness for Chunky Monkey. Yum.
Peanuts aren’t technically nuts, but they’re my favorite snacking nuts – regular and toffee-coated. I hated cashews as a kid, but grew to like them in adulthood. Macadamias are great, but they no longer make my favorite flavor variety – butter candy coated. Honey roasted is not the same.
Pistachios are great, but I had a work friend who used to bring me big bags of pistachios, and I burned out on them. I’m just starting to like them again.
Yeah, it’s how we always had them when I was a kid. Also, my mom would sautee sliced almonds in butter and spoon over halibut steaks. Awesome!
I’m less crazy about macadamia than many other nuts, and they tend to be pricey, but personally I fear not that oil: huge in healthy monosaturated fats. Good stuff. Macadamia nut oil higher than even avocado or olive oil.
To me it’s when the nuts get sugared and salted that the health concerns of overconsumption come up.
I’m intrigued by their hazelnut pancake and baking mix.
Absolutely!
Yep, so I always look for bags of unshelled nuts starting around Thanksgiving. Hadn’t been able to get bags of just almonds or hazelnuts for at least 5-6 years, so it wasn’t the pandemic that caused that. I don’t care for walnuts or Brazil nuts, so I don’t want the mixed bags which show up every year - that’s the majority of what’s in those these days.
Peanuts are pretty much available all year in multiple forms. The others, not so much.
One year my father got a rubber band-powered inertia nutcracker. It was kind of cool, but after the novelty wore off we went back to our old-style basic one-handed version.
I love nuts, but I don’t buy them often because I don’t need the calories, and if they’re in the house in any quantity I’ll gorge on them.
nuts.com is a good place to buy them. They have most of the major types, and some unusual ones (like baru nuts and pili nuts). Their stock is fresh, and they also sell things like salty snacks and dried fruit.
I have made my own Nutella equivalent from scratch using blanched hazelnuts, cocoa, powdered sugar, vanilla, and oil. It comes out way better than regular Nutella, because it has a lot more hazelnut. Commercial Nutellla has surprisingly little hazelnut in it. The only disadvantage to the home-made stuff is you have to store it in the fridge, because hazelnut oil separates out at room temperature.
