page_title: List of culinary nuts
section_title: Drupe seeds
hierarchical_section_title: List of culinary nuts / Drupe seeds
context_page_description: A culinary nut is a dry, edible fruit or seed that usually, but not always, has a high fat content. Nuts are used in a wide variety of edible roles, including in baking, as snacks, and as flavoring. In addition to botanical nuts, fruits and seeds that have a similar appearance and culinary role are considered to be culinary nuts. Culinary nuts are divided into fruits or seeds in one of four categories:
  True, or botanical nuts: dry, hard-shelled, uncompartmented fruit that do not split on maturity to release seeds;
  Drupes: seed contained within a pit that itself is surrounded by a fleshy fruit;
  Gymnosperm seeds: naked seeds, with no enclosure;
  Angiosperm: seeds surrounded by an enclosure, such as a pod or a fruit.
  Nuts have a rich history as food. For many indigenous peoples of the Americas, a wide variety of nuts, including acorns, American beech, and others, served as a major source of starch and fat over thousands of years. Similarly, a wide variety of nuts have served as food for Indigenous Australians for many centuries. Other culinary nuts, though known from ancient times, have seen dramatic increases in use in modern times. The most striking such example is the peanut.
context_section_description: A drupe is a fleshy fruit surrounding a stone, or pit, containing a seed. Some of these seeds are culinary nuts as well.
  Almonds (Prunus dulcis) have a long and important history of religious, social and cultural significance as a food. Speculated to have originated as a natural hybrid in Central Asia, almonds spread throughout the Middle East in ancient times and thence to Eurasia. The almond is one of only two nuts mentioned in the Bible.
  Apricot kernels are sometimes used as an almond substitute, an Apricot seed derived ersatz-Marzipan is known as "Persipan" in German and is extensively used in foods like Stollen.
  Australian cashew nut (Semecarpus australiensis) is a source of food for Indigenous Australians of north-eastern Queensland and Australia's Northern Territory.
  Betel or areca nuts (Areca catechu) are chewed in many cultures as a psychoactive drug. They are also used in Indian cuisine to make sweet after-dinner treats (mukwas) and breath-fresheners (paan masala).
  Borneo tallow nuts (Shorea spp.) are grown in the tropical rain forests of South East Asia, as a source of edible oil.
  Canarium spp.
  Canarium nut (Canarium harveyi, Canarium indicum,  or Canarium commune) has long been an important food source in Melanesia.
  Chinese olive (Canarium album) pits are processed before use as an ingredient in Chinese cooking.
  Pili nuts (Canarium ovatum) are native to the Philippines, where they have been cultivated for food from ancient times.
  Cashews (Anacardium occidentale) grow as a drupe that is attached to the cashew apple, the fruit of the cashew tree. Native to northeastern Brazil, the cashew was introduced to India and East Africa in the sixteenth century, where they remain a major commercial crop. The nut must be roasted (or steamed) to remove the caustic shell oil before being consumed.
  Chilean hazel (Gevuina avellana), from an evergreen native to South America, similar in appearance and taste to the hazelnut.
  Coconut (Cocos nucifera), used worldwide as a food. The fleshy part of the seed is edible, and used either desiccated or fresh as an ingredient in many foods. The pressed oil from the coconut is used in cooking as well.
  Gabon nut (Coula edulis) has a taste comparable to hazelnut or chestnut. It is eaten raw, grilled or boiled.
  Hickory (Carya spp.)
  Mockernut hickory (Carya tomentosa), named after the heavy hammer (moker in Dutch) required to crack the heavy shell and remove the tasty nutmeat.
  Pecans (Carya illinoinensis) are the only major nut tree native to North America. Pecans are eaten as a snack food, and used as an ingredient in baking and other food preparation.
  Shagbark hickory (Carya ovata) has over 130 named cultivars. They are a valuable source of food for wildlife, and were eaten by indigenous peoples of the Americas and settlers alike.
  Shellbark hickory (Carya laciniosa) nuts are sweet, and are the largest of the hickories. They are also eaten by a wide variety of wildlife.
  Irvingia spp. are native to Africa
  Bush mango (Irvingia gabonensis) has both edible fruit and an edible nut, which is used as a thickening agent in stews and soups in West African cuisines.
  Ogbono nut (Irvingia wombolu) is similar to the bush mango, but the fruit is not edible.
  Jack nuts (Artocarpus heterophyllus) are the seeds of the jack fruit. With a taste like chestnuts, they have an extremely low fat content of less than 1%.
  Jelly Palm Nut (Butea Capitata), sweet edible fruit, and edible nut.
  Bread Nuts (Artocarpus camansi) similarly have a chesnut taste and very low fat content
  Panda oleosa is used in Gabon in a similar way to bush mango nuts, as well as to extract an edible oil.
  Pekea nut, or butter-nut of Guiana (Caryocar nuciferum), harvested locally for its highly prized edible oil.
  Pistachio (Pistacia vera L.), cultivated for thousands of years, native to West Asia. It is one of only two nuts mentioned in the Bible.
  Walnut (Juglans spp.)
  Black walnut (Juglans nigra), also popular as food for wildlife, with an appealing, distinctive flavor. Native of North America.
  Butternut (Juglans cinerea) (or white walnut) is na
caption: Smoked almonds
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