A squirrel bounces across the front yard, pauses and digs for a moment, then continues on with the retrieved nut it buried months ago. No vegetable can compare with nuts in the amount of protein they provide. Nuts can be bought in a variety of ways - whole in the shell, shelled, raw or roasted and as nut butters. During the great famine of Old Testament days, Jacob sent almonds to his son Joseph in Egypt.
Almond butter is a creamy, subtly sweet nut butter.
The nuts drop to the ground when ripe, but collecting can still be risky business as high winds can hurl them earthbound with the force of cannon balls. The nut gatherers wear protective head gear. Brazil nuts should be eaten in moderation as they are naturally radioactive due to the soil they are grown in. The cashew is actually the fruit of a tropical tree native to Brazil. The swollen pedicle the cashew is mounted on is called an 'apple' and many Brazilians eat the 'apple' instead of the nut.