Wednesday, October 6, 2010

Nut For Nuts



From almonds to walnuts, nuts are packed with nutrition.

The Romans considered certain nuts to be food of the gods. Because walnuts resemble the brain, they were used to treat head ailments during the Renaissance. The Incas made pottery in the shape of the highly prized peanut.



Most of us today just like to eat them.

Nuts are versatile: They can be eaten as a snack or as part of a meal. They make tasty additions to fruit or vegetable salads, casseroles, baked breads or muffins, oatmeal, pilafs and meat dishes.

Nuts also are nutritious. They are placed in the meat group of the Food Guide Pyramid because of their protein content. Ounce for ounce, they are one of the best plant sources of protein and contain no cholesterol.

Many also are good sources of fiber; minerals such as magnesium, iron, potassium, selenium, copper, and zinc; vitamin E, folacin and other B vitamins; and fat.

Fat - there's good news and bad news. Fat is high in calories - 9 per gram versus the 4 per gram in carbohydrates and protein. If you're tipping the scales a little more than you should, it's best to cut some calories (and add exercise) to get that weight down. Because of their calorie density, fats are a logical choice for lowering our calorie intake. Therefore, use nuts in small amounts.

Although dry-roasted nuts are not cooked in oil, they are not significantly lower in fat that regular roasted (fried) ones. The other bad news is that the salted varieties add a significant amount of sodium.

Some studies have indicated that people who eat nuts fairly often have a lower risk of heart disease than those who seldom eat them.

When buying nuts in the shell, choose clean nuts that are free of splits, cracks, stains, mold or holes. Nutmeats that rattle in their shells are usually stale.

Shelled nuts should be plump and fairly uniform in color and size. Limp, rubbery, dark or shriveled nuts may be stale. Nuts in the shell retain their quality longer than shelled nuts. They can be kept at room temperature for a short time. For longer storage, keep them in a cool, dry place. Shelled nuts will keep fresh for several months stored in a tightly closed container in the refrigerator. Shelled or unshelled nuts can be frozen in tightly closed freezer containers at zero degrees or lower.

Add nuts to homemade trail mix.

For the flavor of fall, sprinkle baked squash, sweet potatoes or apples with chopped nuts.
Nuts add texture and taste appeal to fruit, vegetable and main-dish salads.
Sprinkle hot cereal with chopped nuts or add them to pancake, waffle, cookie, cake, quick bread and muffin batters.

Try using one-half whole wheat flour when baking - the flavor of whole grains especially complements nuts.

Brown baggers delight: Stuff whole grain pocket bread with a mixture of chopped nuts, apple, banana and pineapple chunks and sprinkle with raisins.

Nuts can be ground into a meat like paste and used in place of flour and meat too.


Chestnuts are the only low-fat nut with 1 gram fat and 70 calories in one ounce of dried or roasted nuts. Macadamia nuts are the highest with 19 grams of fat and 199 calories. Some other favorites stack up this way per ounce:

Nut fat calories
Almonds 14 g 167
Brazil nuts 19 186
Cashews 13 163
Hazel nuts 19 188
Hickory nuts 18 179
Peanuts 14 164
Pecans 18 187
Pine nuts 5 161
Pistachios 14 164
Walnuts 1 8 182

When it comes to storing things like nuts you must understand a few simple rules of food storage.

Not all foods have a long shelf life no matter what.
Nuts have a lot of oil in them so they tend to go rancid quicker then most dried foods. The higher the oil content the quicker they will go bad- and when I say bad I mean the flavor will taste off- If you ever opened a package of rice or old flour you will know that smell that comes from the oils that have gone bad - that’s what happens to nuts.


In order to try and extend the shelf life of your nuts you can vacuum pack the in plastic and freeze them. This can extend your nut shelf life to 2 years or more depending. Or you can store them in glass jars in your fridge for about up to one year. I have read that you should not store unshelled unroasted nuts, but I'm unsure that’s true. You are better off storing the nuts in bulk in the shell as the shell helps it last longer- it has to do with the oils in the nut being released, so the more you do to the nut in its natural state the quicker its demise.

With the current situation going on in Wall Street seeing today that the Diamond Farms nut company took the BIGGEST DIVE downward who knows what will happen to the company now. One thing I am certain as in all food products no matter what- THE PROCES WILL GO UP! That you can count and place your bets on - so thinking smart get some nuts today and start storing them because there is a very real possibility the current nut farms will be out of business here in no time flat- that translates into NO NUTS or Nuts being very expensive really soon.

No comments:

Post a Comment