# Nuts vs. Seeds and nutmeat vs. Shell **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 31, 2009, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nuts-vs-seeds-and-nutmeat-vs-shell/523115 "2009-12-31T00:11:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Stoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stoid/32/272_2.png) [@Stoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stoid)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2009, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nuts-vs-seeds-and-nutmeat-vs-shell/523115/1 "2009-12-31T00:11:05Z")
I’m googling, but not hav ing instant easy luck: on average, what percentage of a pecan is shell vs. meat? Asking for the obvious reason: what am I paying to have someone else shell them. A local nut seller charges exactly double for shelled vs. unshelled. So does that mean that a pound of unshelled pecans will normally yield a half a pound of nuts? And is “unshelled” the best way to refer to them? “Whole” is correct, but I think people would mistake that to mean “unbroken” meats, not nuts in the shell. “Unshelled” seems clumsy…I dislike using “UN” to refer to something. Second question: actual definition difference between nuts and seeds? My guess is that nuts are the seeds of a tree encased in a hard shell without any fruity/fleshy coating. Seeds are the seeds of a tree with a hard shell that IS encased in a fruity/fleshy coating. And as long as I’m on the subject: Peanuts are WEIRD. They are like alien life forms come to earth. Does ANY other plant grow like a peanut? (Tey flower, fall over, and the peanut grows from the flower IN the ground. WEIRD.) ---
**Author:** ![Keeve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/f07891/32.png) [@Keeve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Keeve)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2009, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nuts-vs-seeds-and-nutmeat-vs-shell/523115/2 "2009-12-31T00:35:06Z")
> [@Stoid](#): > > And as long as I’m on the subject: Peanuts are WEIRD. No, you’re not on the subject. Peanuts are not nuts. > [@Stoid](#): > > They are like alien life forms come to earth. Does ANY other plant grow like a peanut? (Tey flower, fall over, and the peanut grows from the flower IN the ground. WEIRD.) Beans. Peanuts are beans. ---
**Author:** ![Stoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stoid/32/272_2.png) [@Stoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stoid)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2009, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nuts-vs-seeds-and-nutmeat-vs-shell/523115/3 "2009-12-31T01:16:29Z")
> [@Keeve](#): > > No, you’re not on the subject. Peanuts are not nuts.Beans. Peanuts are beans. No, peanuts are peanuts, and are members of the legume family. All true beans are legumes (I think!) but not all legumes are beans (I know for sure). Peas and peanuts and lentils are all legumes. And come to think of it…beans and peas are also seeds! So I am definitely on topic, since all of these are the seeds of plants. AND…peanuts are legumes but they are referred to and thought of and stored with and sold along side of…nut-nuts. ---
**Author:** ![Keeve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/f07891/32.png) [@Keeve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Keeve)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2009, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nuts-vs-seeds-and-nutmeat-vs-shell/523115/4 "2009-12-31T01:50:02Z")
Good points. I stand corrected. BTW, what you refer to as “nut-nuts” are more commonly called “tree nuts”. ---
**Author:** ![rowrrbazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rowrrbazzle/32/414_2.png) [@rowrrbazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rowrrbazzle)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2009, 6:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nuts-vs-seeds-and-nutmeat-vs-shell/523115/5 "2009-12-31T06:08:13Z")
> **[Nut (fruit)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nut_%28fruit%29)** > > A nut is a fruit consisting of a hard or tough nutshell protecting a kernel which is usually edible. In general usage and in a culinary sense, many dry seeds are called nuts, but in a botanical context, "nut" implies that the shell does not open to release the seed (indehiscent). > Most seeds come from fruits that naturally free themselves from the shell, but this is not the case in nuts such as hazelnuts, chestnuts, and acorns, which have hard shell walls and originate from a compound ovary. > A... > [@](#): > > A nut in botany is a simple dry fruit with one seed (rarely two) in which the ovary wall becomes very hard (stony or woody) at maturity, and where the seed remains attached or fused with the ovary wall. Most nuts come from the pistils with inferior ovaries (see flower) and all are indehiscent (not opening at maturity). True nuts are produced, for example, by some plant families of the order Fagales. > > Order Fagales > > ``` > * Family Fagaceae > o Chestnut (Castanea) > o Beech (Fagus) > o Oak (Quercus) > o Stone-oak, Tanoak (Lithocarpus) > > ``` > > … > > A nut in cuisine is a much less restrictive category than a nut in botany, as the term is applied to many seeds that are not botanically true nuts. Any large, oily kernel found within a shell and used in food may be regarded as a nut. Pistachios are seeds enclosed in a tough fruit, which do not split open enough to release the seeds. > > … > > Some fruits and seeds that do not meet the botanical definition but are nuts in the culinary sense: > > ``` > * Almonds and walnuts are the edible seeds of drupe fruits — the leathery "flesh" is removed at harvest. > * Brazil nut is the seed from a capsule. > * Candlenut (used for oil) is a seed. > * Cashew nut is a seed. > * Coconut is a dry, fibrous drupe. > * Gevuinanut > * Horse-chestnut is an inedible capsule. > * Macadamia nut is a creamy white kernel (Macadamia integrifolia). > * Malabar chestnut > * Mongongo > * Peanut is a seed. > * Pine nut is the seed of several species of pine (coniferous trees). > * Pistachio nut is the seed of a thin-shelled drupe. > > ``` ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2009, 6:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nuts-vs-seeds-and-nutmeat-vs-shell/523115/6 "2009-12-31T06:23:09Z")
The shells are 47% of the weight of the pecans. [footnote](http://www.calorieking.com/foods/calories-in-nuts-pecans-raw_f-Y2lkPTIzMjExJmJpZD0xJmZpZD02MjU3MQ.html)