Nuts

[Deleted]

Tis pecan season here and I love.I do prefer walnuts however.Next would probably be pistachios,then cashews. Am not at all crazy about Brazil nuts or filberts. Peanuts I am indifferent to,have to be in the mood. Macadamia,sometimes I really like and other times so so.
Almonds I adore and use more in cooking then any other nut. Pecans as well make a wonderful "flour" to dust fish with.

[bazfaz]

Walnuts are the local nut. Madame Fradin next door encouraged us to pick up the nuts (she is crippled) from her tree and we shared them. Mrs Faz makes a lovely coffee and walnut cake. I like to make a walnut aillade: walnuts toasted under the grill, into the food processor with oil, parsley, garlic and lemon juice and whizzed to a paste; good on pasta or as a dipping sauce for artichokes.
And tonight I have some slices of smoked duck breast which I'll have with walnuts, escarole and a little red onion as a starter before my calf's kidney.

[lagatta]

Walnuts a bit toasted are wonderful. Pecans are lovely too but very expensive up here and not always fresh enough to be worth their price. Almonds definitely for cooking. Love the walnut aillade and as a sauce (similar to pesto).

Nuts of course are one of those exasperating foods (like cheese and avocado) that are loaded with nutrients, but also with calories...

[Deleted]

I have always preferred pecans to walnuts. I also like hazelnuts (filberts), especially when I could pick them myself, which is probably what I always liked about pecans as well.

Speaking of pecans, they are becoming more and more common in France in recent years. I was wondering which countries produce pecans besides the United States, and Wikipedia says this: Outside the United States, pecans are grown in Australia, Brazil, China, Israel, Mexico, Peru and South Africa.

I also read that pecan trees can live 300 years.

[fumobici]

OK, I've got a black walnut tree dropping tons of fruit in my yard. Without Googling, what on earth should I do with them? When they fall the nuts are sheathed in a tough green skin that doesn't want to come off.

[imec]

Hmmm, no mention of pine nuts yet...

[Deleted]

That's because they are not really nuts.

[bixaorellana]

Yes, but pine nuts really have to be included in the nut family for culinary purposes. There is no where else to put them, as I don't feel they belong in the seed category. Very strictly speaking, I don't think cashews are a nut either, but they belong in the nut food family. And peanuts aren't nuts, but where else would you put them?

I'd have to say that pecans are my favorite, although I wouldn't reject any of the others. One thing that always surprises me in recipes are pecans used raw, when just a little toasting or frying in butter really improves them when used in cooked foods.

[traveler63]

I love pecans too. I also love almonds and Bixa you are right, most nuts can be roasted and they do taste better. I roast my almonds for about 5 minutes in a 350 degree oven. I then mix dried cranberries and golden raisins for an afternoon snack.

[Deleted]

Frankly, I would put pine nuts with sunflower seeds, sesame seeds and poppy seeds, and probably some others (pumpkin seeds?). Isn't that sufficient for another category?

[cristina]

I don't think there is a nut that I don't like. Cashews are my favorites, but they don't like me as I seem to be allergic to them.

The nuts that I use the most and therefore always have on hand are almonds, pine nuts and hazelnuts. I do like walnuts in quick breads, like carrot bread or cranberry bread.

I made pine nut brittle a couple of months ago and it was really quite good.

[imec]

Actually, most of what are being discussed here are not in fact nuts according to the botanical definition. The only actual nut mentioned in this thread so far is the filbert - the rest are either seeds or drupes.

[Deleted]

Nov 30, 2009 19:42:58 GMT fumobici said:

OK, I've got a black walnut tree dropping tons of fruit in my yard. Without Googling, what on earth should I do with them? When they fall the nuts are sheathed in a tough green skin that doesn't want to come off.

We had a black walnut tree(still there)growing up,huge. Drops just like you describe. They are not edible to my knowledge,have tried. They are grown for the beautiful hardwood.
The squirrels however,do eat, and there are nuisance "volunteers" all over the fields...

[fumobici]

OK the squirrels love them, but they unfortunately can't seem to eat or bury them all. For a dense hardwood, Black Walnut grows like an out of control weed. If the lumber is valuable I have no idea why it isn't farmed commercially hereabouts.

[Deleted]

That's just like the countless inedible chestnuts covering the streets of Paris...

[bazfaz]

I'm with Cristina: cashews are the best. And to see them growing... amazing.

[Deleted]

Nov 30, 2009 21:34:09 GMT fumobici said:

OK the squirrels love them, but they unfortunately can't seem to eat or bury them all. For a dense hardwood, Black Walnut grows like an out of control weed. If the lumber is valuable I have no idea why it isn't farmed commercially hereabouts.

I don't either FB,but I know that when this monster tree needed to have several very large limbs pruned off my mother was paid handsomely for the wood by a local lumber company.
The wood was very mature though, and goodness,it was beautiful.

[imec]

Beautiful Pecans tossed in a skillet with a tiny bit of butter, chipotle powder, sea salt and sugar.

[Don Cuevas]

Nov 30, 2009 19:42:58 GMT fumobici said:

OK, I've got a black walnut tree dropping tons of fruit in my yard. Without Googling, what on earth should I do with them? When they fall the nuts are sheathed in a tough green skin that doesn't want to come off.

Lay the nuts out in your hard paved driveway, then drive over them.
After sweeping up the fragments, deposit them in the trash bin.

[bixaorellana]

That's a very good point about throwing the walnut husks in the trash, not in the compost heap.

Walnut is allopathic to nearby plants. The substance responsible is called juglone, a tannic acid. It prevents the growth of seedlings including other walnuts from coming up near the parent tree, especially damaging to plants in the nightshade family. Solanaceae, such as tomatoes, peppers, potatoes, and tobacco. Black walnut is also capable of causing skin rashes to sensitive people.
source: www.dirtdoctor.com/organic/garden/view_question/id/952/

[mickthecactus]

I knew if I kept looking for long enough I’d find a thread on this subject.

I love Pistachios but can I find decent ones here? Can I heck. They are always dried out and virtually tasteless.

I shall continue to search.

[fumobici]

Oct 14, 2024 17:31:18 GMT mickthecactus said:

I knew if I kept looking for long enough I’d find a thread on this subject.

I love Pistachios but can I find decent ones here? Can I heck. They are always dried out and virtually tasteless.

I shall continue to search.

The Italians are very serious about them in spite of pronouncing the "ch" as a hard "k". I'd look for an Italian source. A friend's mom used to bring the best ones back from Iran, they were splashed with lemon juice before they were dried or roasted or whatever one does with pistachios. Those were the absolute best. Probably unobtanium now unfortunately.

[whatagain]

I agree with Fumo. I had an ice cream based on pistachios in Italy and my host would talk 10 min to explain how good the pistachios were there.

[bjd]

Pistachios in France used to come from Iran but all those I see now seem to come from California.

I remember that when I was a kid in Canada, there used to be little vending machines selling pistachios. They were red and I just learned that they came from Iran and were dyed red to cover marks on the shells. California pistachios were sold starting in the 1970s and after 1979 pistachios were no longer imported from Iran.

[onlyMark]

I agree those from Iran are some of the best.
Ahem...Especially when they are eaten at source and are/were for us, very cheap to buy there.

[mickthecactus]

Next time you’re there can you pick some up for me?

[bixaorellana]

If you google "turkish pistachios uk", you'll get lots of hits. How to figure out which companies are good is another thing, though.

[onlyMark]

Certainly Mick. Don't hold your breath though.

[kerouac2]

I can still find Iranian pistachios in Paris, but only in the ethnic grocery stores, not the main chains. In olden times, I would buy pistachios near my office at the Maison de l'Iran on the Champs Elysées. Although Iran still owns the entire building, the luxurious restaurant ("Le Golestan") and the boutique that sold pistachios closed about 10 years ago for some reason. Now the main tenant is the Nike superstore, replacing the Heineken superstore. Oddly enough, the Iran Air agency still occupies the corner, the very last airline office on the Champs Elysées, which used to have more than a dozen.