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The Truth Cracked Open! Almonds Aren’t Really Nuts!
Take a deep breath. We know it’s shocking, but it’s true. Almonds aren’t nuts. Read on to find out why.
What are Nuts?
Nuts have a few general defining qualities. Nuts are:
- A fruit,
- Are dry,
- Have one seed,
- Have a shell that’s hard,
- Have a husk that protects them.
Nuts generally also have a relatively high amount of oil and have a solid or leather-like layer on the outside. Nuts don’t open when they are mature as a means of releasing their seed. Also, in nuts, the seed isn’t attached to the wall of the ovary.
What are Some Examples of Nuts?
Hazelnuts, acorns, and chestnuts are some examples of nuts.
Why Aren’t Almonds Nuts?
Almonds are actually seeds. A seed is something with an embryo, an endosperm, and a coating on it. Almonds are surrounded by a fruit, but aren’t a fruit, like a nut would be.
Almonds are the seed of a type of fruit called a drupe. Although there is more to it, a drupe basically is a kind of fruit that is fleshy and that has a seed inside that is surrounded by a shell that’s hard. Some examples of drupe fruits are olives, peaches, and plums.
Think about when you open a peach and find a pit. If you were to open that pit, you would find a seed inside. That seed is the same kind of thing as an almond.
Fruit, Nuts, and Seeds – a Little Summary
Although there is more to it, there are three kinds of things you can think about: a fruit, a nut, and a seed.
Without getting too technical and too much into definitions, a fruit is basically something that contains seeds (again, this isn’t a complete idea). Apples are fruits. Cherries are fruits. Nuts are also fruits. The basic difference when it comes to fruits where we eat the fleshy part (like apples) and nuts, is that nuts are surrounded by something hard (a shell) that we don’t eat. Again, there’s a lot more to this, but it is a simple way to think about it.
An almond is a seed, basically because rather than being surrounded by a shell, it is surrounded by a fleshy fruit. When we buy almonds, we generally don’t buy them with this fleshy fruit on them, but we just buy the seed inside. The seed is surrounded by what we think of as a shell, but it isn’t the same as the shell around a nut.
Going back to the idea of peaches, when you buy nuts, it is sort of like buying a peach, taking the fruit away, and eating the seed inside. When you buy almonds, it is sort of like buying peach pits, and eating the seed inside.
Why Do We Think of Almonds as Nuts?
When we think of food, we generally call kernels or seeds that we eat that have shells around them nuts, even if they technically aren’t. We do this because we generally treat things like this in the same way as we do actual nuts when it comes to food. This is similar to the way that we consider things that are fruits (such as tomatoes and cucumbers) as vegetables. Even though they’re fruits, we treat them as vegetables, and so that’s sometimes how we refer to them. (Think about eating a salad with tomatoes and cucumbers. Do you think of yourself as eating a fruit salad or do you think of yourself as eating your vegetables?)
Are There Any Other Things We Consider as Nuts That aren’t?
Yes. Some examples include cashews, pecans, and pistachios. Like almonds, these are also seeds.
We know this was shocking. Almonds aren’t actually nuts. Now you know though. At your next party, when someone offers you a bowl of mixed “nuts” with almonds, you can start a conversation.
If you liked learning about almonds and want to learn about other interesting tree and nature-related things, check out our other TrueTreeTalk blog posts. Follow us on Facebook and Instagram to keep with our new posts.
