Storing This Food
Store nuts in a cool, dry, dark place in a container that protects them from the air, heat,
light, and moisture. The unsaturated fats in nuts are very sensitive to oxygen. When nuts
are exposed to air, the fat molecules link up with oxygen atoms, and the nuts “spoil”—turn
rancid. Protecting nuts from air, heat, and light slows the rancidity reaction.
Pack nuts in a moistureproof container and store them in the freezer if you don’t plan
to use them right away. The cold will slow down the oxidation of fats and the nuts will stay
fresh longer. For example, shelled pecans stay fresh up to one year in the freezer against
about two months on a cool, dark kitchen shelf.
Check the nuts occasionally; throw out any moldy nuts or any that have shriveled.
Do not shell nuts until you are ready to use them. The shell is a natural protective
shield.
Preparing This Food
Almonds. To peel shelled almonds, boil the nuts, drain them, and plunge them into cold
water. The skin should slip off easily.
Brazil nuts. Brazil nuts are easy to open if you chill them first. To slice shelled Brazil nuts,
boil the nuts in water for five minutes, then cool and slice. Or you can shave them into sliv-
ers with a potato peeler.
Cashews. Always cook raw cashews before you shell them. Between the shell and the raw
nut is a thin layer of urushiol, the irritating oil also found in poison oak and poison ivy. The
oil is inactivated by heat.
Chestnuts. Slice an X in the flat end of the chestnut and peel off the heavy outer skin. To
remove the thin inner skin, bake the chestnuts on a cookie sheet in a 400°F oven for about
twenty minutes or cover them with boiling water and simmer them for fifteen minutes.
Then drain the nuts and slip off the skins.
Macadamia nuts. To open macadamia nuts, wrap them, one at a time, in a heavy cloth nap-
kin or towel, put the package on a wooden breadboard, and hit the nut with a hammer.
Pecans and walnuts. Crack the nut with a nutcracker.
Pistachios. Open the nuts with your fingers, not your teeth.
What Happens When You Cook This Food
How Other Kinds of Processing Affect This Food
Vacuum packaging. Canned nuts and nuts in glass jars stay fresh longer than nuts sold in
bulk because they are protected from the oxygen that combines with oils and turns them
Nuts