At the start of Christmas, this colander was full of home-grown walnuts, but the family has left only a few behind. The funniest nut-fiend turned out to be my two-year-old grandson, who was able to use the nutcrackers to break the nuts - unassisted and untaught - and then extract the whole kernels from the shell. Is this a normal skillset in one so young?
Simple Oven-Roasted Chestnuts: A Holiday Classic
Learn to roast chestnuts in your oven using easy steps and no special equipment for a festive and delicious treat
By Danette St. Onge
Updated on 10/23/25
- Roasting chestnuts at home requires no special tools, just your oven and a baking sheet.
- The chestnuts develop a sweet, soft texture similar to sweet potatoes.
- You can add roasted chestnuts to stuffings and desserts, or toss them with roasted Brussels sprouts.
Read more:
https://www.thespruceeats.com/how-to-roast-chestnuts-in-oven-4113870
How To Roast Chestnuts In The Oven (Perfect Every Time!)
Nov 6, 2019 · Modified: Nov 21, 2024 by Svitlana
"Recipe in a Nutshell
Pun intended and achieved.
- Wash chestnuts in cold water, discarding any chestnuts with signs of spoilage.
- Score chestnuts.
- Let soak in water for 1-2 hours.
- Arrange on a baking sheet cut side up.
- Roast in the preheat oven until done.
- Let rest for 10 minutes wrapped in a tea towel.
Things You'll Need
- Chestnuts - fresh sweet chestnuts. Consider at least 1.1 pound (500 grams) for a company of four.
- Chestnuts can be purchased at grocery store or farmer's markets during chestnut season (mid-September, October though January in Northern Hemisphere, mid-March to July in Southern Hemisphere.
- Small sharp knife or Italian chestnuts knife - for scoring
- A bowl filled with water - for soaking
- Baking sheet lined with parchment paper (optional but helps minimize the cleaning) - for roasting
- A kitchen towel - for steaming and keeping cooked chestnuts warm for longer"
Learn more [includes pictures]:
https://www.italianrecipebook.com/how-to-roast-chestnuts/
This easy New Year's resolution has worked for us for a long time:
Plant more fruit & nut trees, more grapes, more vegetables, 😃.
Bonus: more birds & bees and more smiles from passers by.
Even bigger bonus: a farmer one county over set up a mosquito trapping pond after seeing ours. Vector Control gives away free mosquito eating fish but guppies work just fine.
The #Nutcracker: A Timeless #Tool with Modern Uses and Appeal
September 22, 2024 by Mahtab Hussain
Excerpt: "The Nut cracker’s Future in #Sustainability
"As more people become #environmentally conscious, there is a growing appreciation for #reusable, long-lasting tools like the nutcracker. In a world filled with #disposable gadgets, a well-made nutcracker can last for years, reducing the need for wasteful packaging of pre-shelled nuts.
"Additionally, many nut crackers are made from sustainable materials such as wood or metal, which aligns with eco-friendly living practices."
Read more:
https://techarp.co.uk/nut-cracker/
#SolarPunkSunday #OldSchoolTech #Nuts #Tools #KitchenTools #LoTech
61 Popular Types of #Nuts Around the World
By Rosa Parks
https://richmondmom.com/popular-types-of-nuts-around-the-world/
#CentralAsia’s #fruit and #nut #forests: the real Garden of Eden?
Birthplaces of some of the world’s most beloved snacks
by Monica Evans
17 December 2020
"Millions of years ago, in the temperate montane forests of a little-known region in Central Asia, some of the world’s best-loved fruit and nut trees began to grow. #Apples, #apricots, #cherries, #plums, #grapes, #figs, #peaches, #pomegranates, #pears, #almonds, #pistachios and #walnuts all originated in the hills and valleys of the #TianShan mountain range, which stretches from #Uzbekistan in the west to #China and #Mongolia in the east.
"The area is volcanic and geologically tumultuous, but fertile – scientists have hypothesized that in a place prone to frequent eruptions, earthquakes and landslides, shorter-lived tree species that could disperse their seeds widely by making themselves palatable to large mammals had a better shot at survival than long-lived, slow-maturing trees.
"And that tasty survival strategy has served these species well. For residents of the region, the foods represent both security and social currency. 'From the taxi drivers to the ministers to the local people, almost everyone carries some #DriedFruit or #Nuts with them,' says Paola Agostini, a lead natural resources specialist for Europe and Central Asia at the World Bank. 'It’s like this safety net, and it’s also a lovely gift: something to share with others that is always appreciated.'
"Central Asian marketplaces offer a cornucopia of colors, flavors, textures and varieties – many more than those most of us are accustomed to finding in our local supermarket’s produce aisle. 'I was always astonished that people in the region could so easily tell which country a particular dried apricot came from,' says Agostini. 'Their knowledge of these products is just so deep.'
"Procuring and sharing these energy-dense treats is an ancient practice in the area. Fruit and nuts were major commodities on the Silk Road, an ancient network of trade routes that tracked through the heart of Central Asia, linking Europe, the Middle East and Asia, from the first century BC through to the mid-1400s. Over centuries of trade and travel – and lots of munching by humans, camels and horses along the way – prized fruit and nut species spread their seeds wider and wider, and new hybrid varieties were created, many of which are now supermarket and home-orchard staples, cultivated enthusiastically in temperate regions across the globe.
"Narratives of plant domestication often tend to overstate the role of humans, but newer science suggests that 'evolution in parallel' with the plants we love is often a more accurate way of framing this process. 'It’s very unlikely that when somebody took an apple from #Kazakhstan and carried it across an entire continent, they were thinking that they could cross it with another variety and end up with something better,' says #RobertSpengler, a paleo-ethnobotanist at the Max Planck Institute in Jena, Germany. 'They were more likely just carrying the seeds to plant somewhere else. And in doing so, they inadvertently set off a chain reaction of hybridization events.'
"According to Spengler’s research into the origins of apples, humans were not the first mammals to participate in that process of dispersal and co-evolution, either. In the late #Miocene, which spanned the period from 11.63 to 5.33 million years ago, large mammals such as #mammoths and #horses played critical roles in dispersing apple seeds and facilitating their evolutionary process into the large, sweet, flavor-rich fruits we enjoy today."
#SolarPunkSunday #Ethnobotany #PlantHistory #SaveTheForests #SaveTheTrees #FruitTrees #NutTrees
A guide to Australian native #nuts
"When we think of nuts that are native to #Australia undoubtedly we think of the #macadamia. But macadamia isn’t the only native nut in town.
"The macadamia nut really is a global success story. Originating here around 60 million years ago it is now exported to more than 40 countries around the world.
"Because it evolved here, the macadamia tree has an incredible natural ability to tolerate the harsh Australian conditions, and it’s been called a ‘sustainability giant’ of the plant world, thanks to its inherent ability to optimise its water use, and sequester carbon from the atmosphere.
"But macadamia isn’t the only native nut in town. Along with the macadamia, let’s look at a few other delicious native nuts."
Read more:
https://www.australian-macadamias.org/a-guide-to-australian-native-nuts/
#SolarPunkSunday #NutTrees #MacadamiaNuts #SandalwoodNuts #BunyaNuts #WattleSeed #NativeAustralianPlants #NativeAustralianFoods
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