Nuts contain in their composition a lot of useful substances and grow in about the same way, their use has a positive effect on the human body. Nuts are actively used in cooking.
Pine nuts
Pine nuts grow on Siberian pine and Siberian cedar. These trees live up to 200 years and reach a height of 50 m. Cones ripen for a long time, about 15 months, and the tree itself begins to bear fruit for the first time at the age of at least 20-30 years. Each cone contains about 150 seeds, which then become pine nuts, and about 12 kg are harvested from one tree. Among all the nuts, the most expensive are pine nuts.
Hazelnut, or hazel
Another name for hazelnuts is Lombard nut. This nut is divided into three varieties, the most common at the present time: Badem, Crimean and Kerasund. They are the same in composition and properties, but they differ in the shape and thickness of the shell externally. Hazelnuts grow on a large hazel, a tree with thin long branches and large leaves. Hazelnuts, now growing everywhere, were obtained by repeated crossing and selection of the largest varieties, which would have the thinnest rind.
Cashew
This unusual shaped nut is native to Brazil. In fact, from the point of view of botany, these fruits are not nuts, since the main part of the cashew is the peduncle, or apple. It is a very juicy and tasty red-orange fruit that spoils quickly after ripening and therefore cannot be transported.
The curved nuts themselves are in a hard shell that contains oil that causes burns. Therefore, before being sold, nuts are cut by hand and then fried to get rid of traces of toxic oil.
Almond
The almond tree belongs to the Rosaceae family and blooms with single white or pink very beautiful flowers. Nuts are very popular all over the world, they have taste advantages and useful properties. Many people consider almonds to be nuts, but they are not - they are stone fruits.
There are bitter and sweet almonds. The latter is eaten. Bitter is used to make fragrant almond oil, but the nut itself cannot be eaten, since it contains many alkaloids.
Real pistachio
This multi-stemmed tree is a relative of cashews and grows in the mountainous regions of Central Asia, Syria, Mesopotamia. Reaches 4-6 m in height, forming a wide dense crown. The bark of a tree with deep cracks, gray-brown color. Pistachio lives for a very long time, 300-400 years. From a culinary point of view, pistachio is called a nut, but in reality, it is a seed. Pistachios ripen from September to November, and at this moment their shells crack.
Groundnut - peanuts
The most inexpensive and common of all nuts is a legume, and its fruits grow underground in a very interesting way. Peanut flowers are located on long pedicels, and only the lowest ones are capable of producing offspring. After the flower is fertilized, it grows and releases a long rod, the gynophore. At first, this rod grows upward, and then bends and grows 9-10 cm into the soil. It is there that the cylindrical peanut beans ripen. Under the ground, its fruit is protected from premature drying. The homeland of peanuts is hot countries.
