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Nut Facts |
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How to Buy Shelled Nuts
See What You are Getting A full visibility plastic bag or glass jar allows you to see the size and color of the nuts. Buy by the weight Avoid containers much to large for the contents. Excessive air space invites rancidity as well as being deceiving as to amount Buy only what you need Store any unused portion in the refrigerator Oil "roasted" nuts must be vacuum packed as they will keep only a few days in normal air. Nuts dry roasted at low temperatures with no oil added may keep even longer than raw nuts as additional moisture has been removed. Know Your Nut Company (Hint, the answer should be yes!) Do they date their packages? Do they keep their stock in cold storage? Do they have a policy of buying only the highest quality raw nuts? Do they use high quality packing material with a good vapor barrier? Know your nuts While all nuts have a relatively high oil content, they do vary in keeping quality. Some, Pine Nuts for example with the highest protein content, are very delicate, will others, such as almonds, are really quite durable. the past, the United States has imported many thousand tons of Pistachio Nuts from Iran and Turkey where they have been grown commercially for hundreds of years. More recently, thousands of acres of Pistachios have been planted in California and are now in production. Using modern mechanical methods, California Pistachios can be husked quickly leaving a clean natural shell. The nuts from the Middle East are commonly bleached and/or dyed to cover the mottled shells resulting from a delay in husking. Pistachios ultimately produce a heavy crop on alternate years, so supply will vary from year to year. |
