Nuts

[Bear Up North]

This thread is NOT all about.....

Nuts, nutcakes, nutty people.
Male anatomy.
An exclamation of despair.
An exclamation of desire for something or someone.
The gizmo with threads that attaches to a bolt.
Nuclear Utilization Target Selection.

This thread is all about.....

Nuts
_____

No poll is included, because there are so many types of nuts.
_____

My favorites are pistachios and cashews. My guess is that many folks will pull the vote lever for those two types of nuts. Older Cyburbians probably recall when pistachios were always difficult to pry open. Cross-breeding of pistachio types has resulted in those easy-open pistachios that are so common now.

I know that when Iran was still friendly with the USA, most of the world's pistachios were grown in that country. California became a big player after the fall of the Shah of Iran. From what I read now, Iran has once again become the leader in pistachios (when they aren't busy not developing nukes).

Cashews are tasty, too. But expensive.

A container of mixed nuts is always an adventure.....especially if you don't pay a lot for that little can with the plastic lid. Cheapo cans have very few cashews. Pay a bit more and you will find more cashews.....and they are in a solid moon-shaped piece, not the tiny chopped crumbs common in the less-expensive cans.

I also like almonds, Spanish peanuts and regular in-the-shell peanuts. If you are ever in Toledo inner-ring suburb Maumee, stop in at Dale's Bar. This popular sports bar has a tradition that all the shells from your basket of peanuts are to be thrown on the floor. Barmaids will even come over to your table and dump any that you may have placed on the table or on a plate.

Side-note: Nuts are considered a health food. Cool!

So......I ask that Cyburbians come out of their shell and let us know about their favorite nuts. What say you?

Bear

[Mr_Bacon]

Erm...

Food nuts were the very first thing in your list of what this thread isn't about. Just throwin' that out there.

Did you know that the outer layers of the cashew seed are toxic? That's why all cashews, even the "raw" ones, are at the very least completely de-shelled and steamed (or another cooking method for non-"raw" nuts).

I'm a fan of beer nuts (peanuts w/ sweet and salty glaze), but excluding nuts with nice glazes I'd have to go with salted cashews or unsalted peanuts.

[Fat Cat]

I like walnuts, dont know anything about them except that I like them

[kms]

Love them. They are good for you. I'll leave peanuts and almonds in the can of mixed, but don't mind them if they are in shell or flavored.

Cashew shells will give people a poison oak-like rash.

[JNA]

"Nuts"
-Brig. General Anthony C. McAuliffe, 101st Airborne Division, Battle of Bastogne

Afraid to eat nuts because of recent dental crown problems.

[kjel]

I love pistachios, almonds, pecans, walnuts, and cashews. I don't like peanuts very much and everything else falls in between. My favorite nut mix is http://www.truenorthsnacks.com/#/almond-pist. The nuts are very crunchy without being overdone and just the right amount of salt. I've found them at Target and Walmart.

[Richmond Jake]

Walnuts, almonds and the occasional pecan. I remember as a kid, my parents had family friends in Colusa in the central valley of California that owned and operated walnut orchards. Each fall we returned with a 50-lb burlap bag of dried walnuts in the shell. We spent evenings and weekends cracking and cleaning walnuts. Mom baked a lot. I still like walnuts.

[ofos]

I suppose somebody will have to point out that peanuts are not true nuts but are from the legume family. Nuts to them, I say! My personal favorite is the brazil nut. I attribute much of my grip strength to hours spent trying to crack their shells. Older members of the family referred to them as "very racially offensive term toes".

[H]

I LOVE boiled p-nuts. I like them best cold, from the fridge. During football season, I eat them by the load. Mmmmmmmmmmmm.

I boil them myself sometimes, but I usually just buy them at the produce stand down the road.

EDIT: and yes, I know that p-nuts are not "really" nuts. I dont care. They function as such.

[Mr_Bacon]

My personal favorite is the brazil nut. I attribute much of my grip strength to hours spent trying to crack their shells. Older members of the family referred to them as "very racially offensive term toes".

My mom has busted that phrase out a few times. I don't know why anyone would have wanted to compare tasty nuts (<--don't overthink that) to toes in the first place.

[Planit]

Cashews are my favorites (infact got a tin of chocolate covered cashews for Christmas this year) and nothing beats a bag of peanuts at a baseball games

[southsideamy]

My mom has busted that phrase out a few times. I don't know why anyone would have wanted to compare tasty nuts (<--don't overthink that) to toes in the first place.

We had the same rude and racist term in my household growing up. And this is just one of the reasons why I don't live anywhere near central Kansas anymore!

Nuts were a christmas tradition in my family (both the unstable relatives and the fruit of tree kinds). We would always receive a gigantic pail of mixed nuts that required cracking and there would be these ashtray looking (in fact, I think after my parents quit smoking int he 80's, we USED ashtrays) bowls with nuts around the house. It was a family sport to see who could crack a walnut without breaking the nut meat. (okay...that sentence is quite weird...) I remember getting walnuts in my Christmas stocking and my grandma made amazing walnut cookies.

I always have almonds in my desk - I love the flavored ones - wasabi and soy sauce is my favorite right now. But I'm doing weight watchers and can only have 14 almonds at one sitting (14 almonds=2points)...I'd rather strap it on like a pail and eat the whole batch (thus...why I am in WW).

[CJC]

I don't think I've ever found a nut that I don't like.

However, I don't like nuts in brownies for some reason, and have never really developed a taste for pecan pie.

My favorite nuts are almonds, pistachios, cashews, macadamia nuts, and Spanish marcona almonds (probably my favorite, but outrageously expensive). I love the huge bags of fresh-roasted cashews from street vendors that you can get in northeast Brazil (other areas too, but that area is the best), though the juice from the cashew apple (cashews are one of the few nuts where a fruit grows on top and the nut grows below it) is pretty nasty, IMO.

[Maister]

No poll is included, because there are so many types of nuts.

Says you.

[dandy_warhol]

Maister, you forgot to add Chocolate Covered as a poll option.

I demand a mis-poll!!

[Planderella]

I LOVE boiled p-nuts. I like them best cold, from the fridge. During football season, I eat them by the load. Mmmmmmmmmmmm.

I boil them myself sometimes, but I usually just buy them at the produce stand down the road.

EDIT: and yes, I know that p-nuts are not "really" nuts. I dont care. They function as such.

I used to think that boiled p-nuts were the grossest ever, until I actually tried them about a year ago. I enjoy them, but my favorite nut is the pecan (pronounced pa-kawn, not pee-can).

[Maister]

Salted, blanched peanuts are my preference. I like the taste of spanish peanuts too but find the skins a bit too messy, that and they get stuck between teeth. Same thing goes with salted in-the-shell peanuts, yummy but between the discarded shells and loose skins, just too dang messy (unless of course one is dining at one of those throw yer peanut shells on the floor kinda restaurants. That usually buys 'em an extra half star under my restaurant rating system).

Edit:

pecan (pronounced pa-kawn, not pee-can

No no no it's pronounced pee-kahn.

And one goes shopping at Krogers or Kresges, not Kroger or Kresge.

[Mud Princess]

I like 'em all, though cashews are probably my favorite. I generally prefer walnuts, almonds, and pecans in other things, like baked goods, rather than on their own. And hold the salt, please.

Peanut butter is good, but chocolate hazelnut butter is awesome. First time I had it was on the West Coast, in Washington State, but there's a vendor at our local farmers market who sometimes has it. Yum!

[Rygor]

I love me some cashews. In fact, I'm eating some right now.

I vote pistachio's as the most addictive, though. They need to open pistachadone clinics because you can't stop eating them once you start.

[Brocktoon]

For the poll, all the above needs to be an option....for some reason after reading this thread I thought of Bubba from "Forrest Gump" but instead of shrimp dishes he is listing different nuts he likes.

[Gotta Speakup]

Walnuts, almonds and the occasional pecan. I remember as a kid, my parents had family friends in Colusa in the central valley of California that owned and operated walnut orchards. Each fall we returned with a 50-lb burlap bag of dried walnuts in the shell. We spent evenings and weekends cracking and cleaning walnuts. Mom baked a lot. I still like walnuts.

Back when I was a very little kid, before the orchards gave way to city around San Jose, we lived in a house with an almond tree in the back yard - not only were the nuts good but so were the blossoms, the bees that would come by to pollinate the tree, the fuzzy pods around each nut, even climbing the tree was a blast. Other family and friends had walnut trees. Those were fun to step on!

[Otis]

I love cashews. They're the best, followed closely by macademia nuts. I eat a lot of hazelnuts/filberts since they grow around here and are inexpensive. Mrs. Otis makes the best hazelnut-crusted salmon filets! Yum!

[TexanOkie]

I favor pecans (like any true Texan), but also enjoy walnuts, brazil nuts, cashews, and hazel nuts.

[geobandito]

Not a nut fan. I like peanut butter if it's with something sweet (PB&J, peanut butter cookies or fudge) and as long as it isn't chunky. Walnuts can ruin a delicious brownie.

[dvdneal]

I'm all about nuts, especially raw. Cashews and pistachios come a close second to brazil nuts. The only problem is that they are such a pain to crack open.

For comedy applying to this thread only...I once saw a zoning classification for "nut shop" in Phoenix. I assume it meant a shop that sells the food product, but the jokes went flying anyway.