List of Culinary Nuts - True Nuts

True Nuts

The following are both culinary and botanical nuts.

• Acorn (Quercus, Lithocarpus and Cyclobalanopsis spp.), used from ancient times among indigenous peoples of the Americas as a staple food, in particular for making bread and porridge.
• Beech (Fagus spp.)
  • American beech (Fagus grandifolia), used by Native American nations as food. Several tribes sought stores of beech nuts gathered by chipmunks and deer mice, thus obtaining nuts that were already sorted and shelled.
  • European beech (Fagus sylvatica), although edible, have never been popular a source of food. They have been used as animal feed and to extract a popular edible oil.
• Breadnut (Brosimum alicastrum), used by the ancient Maya peoples as animal fodder, and as an alternative food when yield of other crops was insufficient.
• Candlenut (Aleurites moluccana), used in many South East Asian cuisines.
• Chestnuts (Castanea spp.)
  • Chinese chestnuts (Castanea mollissima) have been eaten in China since ancient times.
  • Sweet chestnuts (Castanea sativa) unlike most nuts are high in starch and sugar. Extensively grown in Europe and the Himalayas.
• Hazelnuts (Corylus spp.), most commercial varieties of which descend from the European hazelnut (Corylus avellana). Hazelnuts are used to make pralines, in the popular Nutella spread, in liqueurs, and in many other foods.
  • American hazelnut (Corylus americana), appealing for breeding because of its relative hardiness.
  • Eastern and western beaked hazel (Corylus cornuta), native to the United States.
  • European hazelnut (Corylus avellana) is the source of most commercial hazelnuts.
  • Filbert (Corylus maxima) are commonly used as "filler" in mixed nut combinations.
  • Several other species are edible, but not commercially cultivated to any significant extent. These include the cold-tolerant Siberian hazelnut (C. heterophylla), C. kweichowensis, which grows in the warmer parts of China, C. sieboldiana, which grows in Japan and China, and other minor Corylus species.
• Johnstone River almond (Elaeocarpus bancroftii), a prized forage food among northern Australian aboriginal people.
• Kola nut (Cola spp.), from a West African relative of the cocoa tree, is the origin of the cola flavor in soft drinks.
• Kurrajong (Brachychiton spp.), native to Australia, highly regarded as a bush food among northern Australian aboriginals.
• Malabar chestnut (Pachira aquatica) have a taste reminiscent of peanuts when raw, and of cashews or European chestnuts (which they strongly resemble) when roasted.
• Mongongo (Ricinodendron rautanenii) nuts are an abundant source of protein among Bushmen in the Kalahari desert. Also of interest as a source of oil for skin care.
• Palm nuts (Elaeis guineensis) are an important famine food among the Himba people in Africa.
• Karuka (Pandanus spp.), native to Papua New Guinea. Both the planted and wild species are eaten raw, roasted or boiled, providing food security when other foods are less available.
  • Planted karuka (Pandanus julianettii) is a cultivated species, planted by roughly half the rural population of Papua New Guinea.
  • Wild karuka (Pandanus brosimos) is an important food source in villages at higher altitudes in New Guinea.
• Red bopple nut (Hicksbeachia pinnatifolia) is native to the east coast of Australia. Low in fat, high in calcium and potassium. Eaten as bush food. Considered similar, but inferior to the macadamia.
• Yellow walnut (Beilschmiedia bancroftii) is native to Australia where it served as a staple food among Australian aboriginal people.