K N O W L E D G E C O N C E N T R AT E Although most of the “nuts” consumed in the United States are peanuts, peanuts aren’t nuts; they’re peas. True nuts grow on trees. Brazil nuts, beechnuts, kola nuts, walnuts, pecans, chestnuts, hazelnuts, and almonds all have considerable culinary cred, but my big three are: cashews, pistachios, and macadamia nuts. CASHEWS are native to South America but are now grown primarily in India, which perhaps makes sense when you consider that they are kin to the mango. Although most of us are familiar with the cashew’s crescent shape, the cashew comes from the tree connected to an odd little fruit called a cashew apple, which has various other culinary uses (down in the Caribbean they’re soaked in rum). Each of these fruits has a shell hanging off the end containing a single cashew. The shell itself contains caustic oils often used in furniture varnishes because it repels termites. Sorry to take that side trip, but when you have an opportunity to put two of your culinary crew in cheap termite suits, you just have to go with it. The point is that getting even a single cashew to market isn’t easy, and that’s why they’re expensive. Still, because of their unique flavor and high fat content, they’re potent players because they can easily be ground into a smooth paste that puts most peanut butters to shame. The PISTACHIO is grown from the Middle East all the way to the far west . . . of Asia, that is, which explains why it’s so ubiquitous in Turkish desserts. After spreading slowly across Europe, the pistachio tree was finally introduced to the United States via California in the 1890s. Pistachio trees seed twice a year, producing clusters of seeds encased in a fleshy yellowred skin. Traditionally they were harvested by hand, but modern machines can shake ripe clusters from the trees so the seeds can be harvested from the ground. They are then soaked in water (to remove the fleshy coating) and dried in the sun.
Most of us buy our pistachios in the shell. With any other nut, this would mean a lot of work. But not so here, because the pistachio splits, or “smiles,” when ripe. The MACADAMIA NUT is indigenous to Australia, but centuries of island-hopping through Polynesia brought it to its adopted home of Hawaii, where it’s paired with everything from mangoes to marshmallows to mahimahi. What makes the nut so unique is its texture. Bite into a raw or cooked macadamia, and you get a crunchy snap followed by a melt-in-your-mouth succulence that betrays the nut’s considerable fat content. As for flavor, it is subtle yet faintly tropical, and when toasted reminds me of coconut. Since it takes a tree seven years to produce a marketable crop, macadamias are expensive. Luckily, a little goes a long way.
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The nutmeat of the pistachio is deep green, thanks to the presence of chlorophyll, and in the nut industry, the deeper the green, the more highly valued the nut. (If you’ve ever seen pistachios with vibrant red shells, that’s not nature. That’s processors dyeing the meats to make them more attractive, or so, I suppose, they think.)
Termite 1: This wood tastes nasty. Termite 2: Like... Termites 1 & 2: ...cashews! Termite 1: Let’s go get a box of toothpicks. Termite 2: Sweet!
U SO ME TIM ES YO . . FE EL LIK E A .
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