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When you consider that the average American consumes 12 pounds of peanuts a year, it’s safe to assume that peanuts are one of our favorite nuts. Or is it? Actually the peanut isn’t a nut at all, but a legume (the fruit or seed of leguminous plants), which means it grows underground like a potato and is related to peas and beans.
Here are more little-known facts about the amazing peanut:
 Astronaut Allan B. Shepard took peanuts on the Apollo moon mission.
Peanut butter is not just for kids. In fact, peanut butter was invented by an American doctor to provide a nutritious and easily digestible food for his elderly patients.
An Australian inventor has developed a vehicle fueled by peanut power.
The world record for eating 100 peanuts, one at a time, is 59.2 seconds.
Without peanuts there may never have been the Nobel Prize®. Its namesake, scientist Alfred Nobel, amassed a fortune over his lifetime, partly from the proceeds of his invention of dynamite. And since dynamite is made from nitroglycerine, which is made from glycerol, which is made from peanut oil, dynamite would not have come to pass without the protein-packed legume.
As our favorite “vegetable,” peanuts also offer important nutritional benefits:
Peanuts contain more protein than any other legume or nut. This is especially important for children, vegetarians and people who seek extra protein in their diets.
Peanuts contain mostly beneficial monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats. These fats as compared to saturated fats have been shown to help lower blood cholesterol levels.
One ounce, or one small handful of peanuts, contains 9% of your daily needed fiber (3 grams), 16% of your daily needed vitamin E and essential minerals such as magnesium, copper, phosphorus, potassium and zinc.
Source: peanutinstitute.org |
| Baking nuts don't only have to be used for baking! They are as versatile as they are delicious. Add nuts to a variety of meals. |
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| Throughout history, almonds have enjoyed religious and social significance. The early Romans showered newlyweds with almonds as a fertility charm, and almonds were honored as a symbol of good luck for centuries throughout southern Europe. In the Americas, gifts of almonds represent happiness, romance, good health and fortune. Not to mention that foods featuring the light, sophisticated flavor of almonds are universally loved. |
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Native to the South Central U.S. and Northern Mexico, pecans have been enjoyed for centuries by Native Americans for their delicious taste and nutrition. In fact, the name pecan comes from the Native American word “paccan,” meaning “a nut with a shell so hard it must be cracked with a stone.”
By the 1500s with the exploration and settlement of Texas, the popularity and demand for pecans had expanded dramatically with commercial productions beginning in the late 1800s. Today consumers enjoy more than 500 varieties of this elegant, flavorful nut as snacks and as ingredients in American and ethnic cuisine. |
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| As the oldest-known tree food eaten by man, walnuts are used today more than any other nut in America’s home-cooked recipes and restaurant dishes. Originating in ancient Persia about 7,000 B.C., walnuts were first traded along the Mediterranean by English merchant ships. This fact may be the reason for the misleading name English Walnuts, since walnuts were never produced in England commercially. Today California produces 70% of the world’s walnuts, thanks to some Franciscan fathers from Mexico and Spain who introduced the trees to the area in the late 1700s. |
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Even though we refer to the cashew today as a nut, it is actually a seed. Grown at the bottom of a delicate yet edible, pear-like fruit, cashews’ closest relatives include mangos and pistachios. And even though cashews are cultivated inside an extremely protective, honeycombed shell, they are the only “nut” marketed exclusively without their shells.
Originally spread from Brazil by Portuguese explorers, international trade of cashews began in the 1920s. Now grown all over the world, one cashew tree can produce approximately 200-300 cashews per year. Enjoy them roasted with salt, unsalted for use in cooking or as roasted and salted or honey-roasted which is perfect for snacking.
This sweet, delicate seed is filled with several nutritional benefits:
Cashews contain 5 grams of protein per ounce.
You’ll find high levels of iron, magnesium, phosphorus, zinc and other essential minerals in cashews.
This tempting delicacy contains no cholesterol, and with such high levels of monounsaturated fatty acids, cashews can help support healthy levels of good (HDL) cholesterol.
Source: organiccashewnuts.com
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A favorite in healthy Mediterranean diets, pine nuts are the hard-to-harvest seed of the umbrella-shaped Stone Pine tree, which has been cultivated for its “nuts” for over 6,000 years.
This versatile, torpedo-shaped kernel has been used for centuries in a variety of international cuisines, including Mediterranean, Middle Eastern and Asian. In fact, its sweet flavor and delicate crunch continues to be used as the basis of great pestos, breads and pastries, or to add body, texture and flavor to favorite sauces, entrées and salads.
This hunger-fighting seed is an excellent source of protein, fiber, phosphorous, potassium, thiamine and vitamin B1.
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Native to the Americas, sunflowers were cultivated for their seeds thousands of years ago in present-day Mexico, Arizona and New Mexico. Some archaeologists suggest that the sunflower may have been domesticated before corn. Seeds were ground into flour for cakes or bread, squeezed for their oil or cracked to eat as a snack. Nonfood uses included using sunflower seeds to make dye, medicines and grooming products for hair and skin.
As a wonderful source of the many vitamins, minerals, good fats and antioxidants, sunflower kernels are a nutritious snack choice and can also be used as a flavorful ingredient in cooking and baking. In fact, sunflower kernels are excellent sources of folate, vitamin E, selenium, iron and zinc.
Source: sunflowernsa.com
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| Native to the rain forests of Queensland, Australia, macadamia nuts (sometimes called Queensland nuts) are named after botanist John Macadam who first described the tree’s genus. Though they are grown from Brazil to South Africa to Hawaii, Australia is the world’s largest grower of macadamia nuts, producing approximately 40,000 tons of in-shell nuts per year. |
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Did you know?
There are numerous species of macadamia nuts, however, only two are edible.
Macadamia nuts are often fed to Hyacinth Macaws in captivity. These large parrots are one of the few animals, aside from humans, capable of cracking and shelling the nut.
Macadamia nuts are toxic to dogs. So don’t feed them to Fido!
Macadamia trees are also grown as ornamental plants in subtropical regions for their glossy foliage and attractive flowers.
Macadamia nuts have the highest amount of beneficial monounsaturated fats of any nut.
They are also a source of protein, fiber, calcium, phosphorus, potassium, selenium, iron, thiamine, riboflavin and niacin.
Source: The Australian National University
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