Any time someone says,“It has a Nutty Flavor/Aroma”. I immediately think of Austin Powers and his coffee sample.
I have no idea what “Nutty” is supposed to mean in taste speak.
How can a wine have “Nutty Aromatics”?
What Nuts? Pecan? Walnut? Pine Nuts? Corn Nuts? Mountain Oysters?
What about that “Earthy” Flavor/Aromatic? Is that equal to “Dirt”?
What kind of Dirt? Northern Tundra? Georgia Clay? Beachy Sands? Cow Pasture?
*I have over 1000 posts, on a single message board? :eek:
“Earthy” I think refers to the aroma of fresh soil after a rain. To me, beets have an earthy flavor.
“Nutty” is harder to pin down. When I think of “nutty,” I think first of all of the aroma of freshly ground acorns. And yes, I find that strong black coffee has a nutty, albeit slightly bitter flavor. All nuts are basically seeds, and coffee beans are just the seed of the coffee plant berry.
I entered this thread assuming the OP was unable to taste nuts - e.g., allergy issues. Since that doesn’t seem to be the case, I wonder how they could ask… what the point of asking to have a common flavor described is. Um… go taste a few nuts, perhaps? There is a commonality to their flavors that should answer the question.
For those with allergies who may not know the taste and can’t experiment directly, toast some white bread and spread a little browned butter on it. That’s pretty close to a general “nutty” flavor.
Nutmeg, pecans, almonds, certain sausages and cured meats, all of those sorts of flavors are squarely on the nutty side of the flavor spectrum.
What you do is you eat a couple of things that are said to have a nutty flavor. Now you know what “nutty” means and can use it on your own now, too! Worked when I was a beer “nut” (sorry about the pun). You’d read flavor descriptions of a bunch of Heffeweissens, for instance. Then you’d go out and buy a bunch of them. Drink them, try to put it in your own words and look up how other people described it. You’d get a feeling for exactly what they meant in not all that long of a time. Generally if I just trusted my gut and asserted that “no, I swear this beer tastes just like lemonade,” your friends at the bar might think you were crazy, but then you’d go online and find that’s exactly how everyone else is describing it, too.
Nuts have different flavor.
Boiled Chestnuts and Boiled Peanuts are similar, but neither taste like Peanut Butter.
Macadamias and Brazil nuts are similar, but taste nothing like pistachios or almonds.
Maybe they should say “Woody” as in Hardwoods/Oak, not as in Softwoods/Pine. If you chainsaw a few different woods you can tell differences.
The euphemisms of Nutty/Earthy seems to just say something, but mean nothing universal…
I guess Nutella could be considered, Nutty. Since it has actual nuts in it.
On the very slight chance you’re not rolling your eyes at high speed while typing that, I will point out that a trace percentage of an ingredient, such as the pinch of dried hazelnut in Sludgetella, doesn’t have a noticeable taste.
Respectfully disagree. I love the stuff, and yes, I can taste the hazelnuts in it. So far, hazelnuts remain one of Europe’s great advantages over North America. 
Some mushrooms have a nutty flavor. If you can eat mushrooms but not nuts, ask someone who can eat both to try some mushrooms and tell you which ones taste nutty.
My wife is allergic to mushrooms and to tree nuts. On a recent trip to Hawaii she asked me what macadamia nuts tasted like. Couldn’t tell her. My best attempt would have been “a milder cashew” but that didn’t help her.
Yet they all have a base of flavor that I would consider “nutty” (except maybe for water chestnuts–they’re kind of low on the nutty spectrum.)
Nutella, while being mostly sugar and chocolate, has a very obvious hazelnut flavor to it.
Also, some cheeses, especially long-aged hard cheeses. “Nutty” would be a descriptor I’d use for parmesan and aged goudas, for instance.
I checked if somebody has chemically characterized “nutty,” and it looks like you’re in luck that you asked now and not earlier! Check it out: http://www.researchgate.net/publication/236024304_Defining_and_Characterizing_the_Nutty_Attribute_across_Food_Categories
I took a quick glance at it and they say:
They go into much more detail though. Hope this helps.