# What are "Indian nuts"?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-indian-nuts/605143
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [December 5, 2011, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-indian-nuts/605143 "2011-12-05T17:45:29Z")
**Posts on this page:** 12
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)
#### Post date: [December 5, 2011, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-indian-nuts/605143/1 "2011-12-05T17:45:29Z")
A few months ago, I was listening to the LA Theatreworks production of [Once in a Lifetime](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Once_in_a_Lifetime_%28play%29) on my local public radio station. A Chekhov’s Gun-type plot point from Act One made reference to one of the characters’ fondness for a snack called “Indian nuts.” The character, who is kind of dim eats Indian nuts between gigs with his vaudeville act, eats them on the train while he and his partners travel to Hollywood to become elocution instructors for the nascent Talking Pictures industry, and when he (improbably) becomes a movie director, he eats them on the soundstage during filming.
It’s made clear that cracking the shells of Indian nuts can be very loud and distracting. What’s not made clear is _what the hell Indian nuts actually are_.
.
Wikipedia is not helpful in providing an answer to this mystery. And so I turn to the Dope. Anyone know the answer (I figure it will probably be **Eve** , since the play was written by Moss Hart and George S. Kaufman)?
As always, thanks in advance. 🙂
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### Author:  [@Jas09](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jas09)
#### Post date: [December 5, 2011, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-indian-nuts/605143/2 "2011-12-05T17:54:26Z")
This is all I could find… apparently similar to Pine Nuts, but not identical. Claim is that they’re form the American Southwest and no longer being harvested for some reason…
[http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/269527](http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/269527)
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### Author:  [@Jas09](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jas09)
#### Post date: [December 5, 2011, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-indian-nuts/605143/3 "2011-12-05T17:55:28Z")
Ah, these may be them: [http://www.nutsonline.com/nuts/pinenuts/indian-pinion.html](http://www.nutsonline.com/nuts/pinenuts/indian-pinion.html)
Pinon Nuts.
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### Author:  [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)
#### Post date: [December 5, 2011, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-indian-nuts/605143/4 "2011-12-05T18:09:53Z")
Bit of a letdown, actually, but thank you very much.
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### Author:  [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)
#### Post date: [December 5, 2011, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-indian-nuts/605143/5 "2011-12-05T18:55:17Z")
Ah, I’ve wondered about that ever since I read about them in an old comic book. Never encountered them in real life, and always was curious what they were.
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### Author:  [@Basandre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Basandre)
#### Post date: [December 8, 2011, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-indian-nuts/605143/6 "2011-12-08T15:03:08Z")
Pinon is Spanish for pine. Aren’t pine nuts the usual nut to go in pesto? When you use them in cooking you normally get them shelled, but if you’re just eating them as a snack, roasted and salted, they come in the shells.
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### Author:  [@TruCelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TruCelt)
#### Post date: [December 8, 2011, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-indian-nuts/605143/7 "2011-12-08T15:49:37Z")
Huh. When I was a kid we snacked on “Indian Nuts” but they were actually large corn kernels fried into a crunchy brown nut.
Definitely no shells to crack though.
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### Author:  [@hlanelee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hlanelee)
#### Post date: [December 8, 2011, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-indian-nuts/605143/8 "2011-12-08T16:33:27Z")
The question just screams out, " **TAKE A CHEAP SHOT** , but I think I’ll pass.
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### Author:  [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)
#### Post date: [December 8, 2011, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-indian-nuts/605143/9 "2011-12-08T16:34:47Z")
> [@Basandre](#):
>
> Pinon is Spanish for pine. Aren’t pine nuts the usual nut to go in pesto? When you use them in cooking you normally get them shelled, but if you’re just eating them as a snack, roasted and salted, they come in the shells.
The pine nuts used in pesto would usually be from the Stone Pine _Pinus pinea_. Pinon nuts come from several different species of pines in the Southwestern US.
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### Author:  [@maxkatz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/maxkatz)
#### Post date: [July 31, 2012, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-indian-nuts/605143/10 "2012-07-31T23:25:40Z")
pistachio nuts in the shell … back in day they were dyed red before roasting … carny fare …
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### Author:  [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)
#### Post date: [August 1, 2012, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-indian-nuts/605143/11 "2012-08-01T01:22:38Z")
> [@hlanelee](#):
>
> The question just screams out, " **TAKE A CHEAP SHOT** , but I think I’ll pass.
That would be a nut shot, wouldn’t it?
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### Author:  [@ministryman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ministryman)
#### Post date: [August 2, 2012, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-indian-nuts/605143/12 "2012-08-02T14:06:55Z")
> [@BrotherCadfael](#):
>
> That would be a nut shot, wouldn’t it?
Teste today, aren’t we?