I’ve been eating peanuts all my life. I don’t have them so much these days. I prefer the almond. But I’ve always loved the peanut.
And all this time, I thought I was eating a nut. But peanuts are not nuts. They are legumes, more closely related to beans and lentils than tree nuts.
Who knew?
So, since we are getting down to the brass tacks about nuts, let’s look at a few more.
But wait. A segue. What is this “brass tacks” thing? “Getting down to brass tacks” is an idiom that means to focus on the most important facts or practical details of something.
But how did it get started? The most prominent theory is this: It originates from the furniture-making industry and refers to the practice of stripping back a piece of upholstered furniture to the brass tacks that hold the fabric in place. Once a furniture restorer had got down to the brass tacks, they were looking at the basic frame of the furniture, i.e., dealing with just the bits that matter.
So there it is. Getting down to the bits that matter.
And here are some bits that matter about nuts. Or are they?
Almonds – Technically, they are the seeds of a drupe (a fruit with a hard stone), and they are closely related to peaches and cherries.
Cashews – These are seeds that grow on the bottom of the cashew apple, part of a drupe.
Pistachios – Like almonds and cashews, pistachios are the seeds of drupes.
Walnuts – Another drupe seed encased in a hard shell surrounded by a husk.
Hazelnuts – While commonly called nuts, they are actually the seeds of a fruit.
Coconuts – A type of drupe, not a true nut.
Brazil Nuts – These are seeds from a large capsule-like fruit of the Brazil nut tree.
Macadamia Nuts – These are also seeds of a hard-shelled fruit rather than true nuts.
Pecans – These are seeds from the hickory tree’s fruit, another drupe.
Drupes, by the way, are fleshy fruits with thin skin and a central stone containing the seed, e.g., a plum, cherry, almond, or olive.
Then. You may be wondering. What is a true nut?
True nuts include acorns, chestnuts, and hazelnuts (botanically speaking). True nuts don’t split open to release their seeds.
All this time. We’ve been eating seeds and legumes and such.
This entire thing is nuts if you ask me.
“”””””””””””””
“From little acorns, mighty oaks do grow.”
– Proverb
“”””””””””””””
“Don’t judge each day by the harvest you reap, but by the seeds you plant.”
– Robert Louis Stevenson
“”””””””””””””
“Sometimes the best ideas are like nuts; you have to crack them open to see their worth.”
– Sam Humphrey
“”””””””””””””
This whole thing is nuts. Or are they really nuts?
