Limelight Nuts about nuts By Lubna Abdel-Aziz By any other name, this rich, luscious, ambrosial, tid-bit we call the nut, would taste just as sweet. Except for the egg, no other edible morsel carries as much nutrition, flavour and versatility for its size. By all measures, this is the season that nut lovers go nuts. It is more in demand around Christmas than at any other time. We see more of it, buy more of it, cook more of it and certainly eat more of it. Nuts are comfortable in any kind of food setting. As snacks, appetisers, main dishes and garnish, they delight. As part of every dessert or confectionery, they thrill. Few mortals can resist the gentle persuasion of a nut whether hungry as a hawk or fully satiated. This tiny seducer beckons; your mouth waters, your fingers itch, you try to look away, but its magnetic force pulls you back. Your torment rises; you give in to the forbidden fruit. The flavour bursts in your mouth and that warm lively essence smacks the lips leaving your heart beating and all your taste buds longing for more. One nut, two, three, you never have enough of that "bonne bouche" that satisfies every taste, cultivated or otherwise. You do it by sheer instinct. Nuts are good for you. They contain essential amino acids only found in animal proteins and studies show that frequent consumption reduces the risk of heart disease and cancer. Consumed and cherished since pre- historic times the highly nutritious nut comes in all shapes, tastes, and sizes. Hundreds of nut-bearing plants grow in almost every part of the world, but only 25 are raised as crop. Botanists define it as a dry one-seed fruit surrounded by a hard shell, and that hard shell makes it fair game for all the quips and cranks and whimsical witticisms of the playful "jeu de mots" about the nut. One of the most ancient, and certainly the most popular nut in every culture is the almond. Known for its blossoming flowers at springtime, it is prominently featured in Christmas meals by all. Scandinavians end their dinner with a rice pudding, an almond buried in its midst, and whoever gets the almond will have good luck throughout the year. Even before the almond, the walnut had its origins in Europe and Asia. Though a walnut looks like any other, there are 15 varieties, the most popular being the English walnut, so-called for no particular reason, since it is France, Italy, Spain, among other countries that produce walnuts. The hazelnut, sometimes called "filbert", is valuable food for many animals in the wild -- and us. In ancient times and until recently they were believed to have magic powers. The pecan is the gift of the New World to the Old World. Much like the walnut, the meat is sweeter, the shell smoother, and nothing can compare to a sliver or two of the singularly delicious pecan pie. Perhaps the oldest nut of all, 10,000 years old, is the pistachio. Different in colour, a pale green, its inviting semi-opening gives it the name of "the smiling pistachio" in Iran, a major producer, together with Turkey, Italy, Greece and California. The tempting tiny tasty fruit of the peanut, is not even a nut, but a pea. Like other peas, these delectable seeds grow in pods and provide the best source of concentrated protein in the plant kingdom. They contain NO cholesterol and their high fat content is mainly the "good" unsaturated fat. More than any other nut, peanuts are produced, consumed and used in a variety of foods. Unbeknownst to us we use peanuts regularly every day in fats, cooking oils, cosmetics, soaps, face powders, shaving creams, shampoos and paints. Even peanut shells have their many uses. Ground into powder, they are ingredients in plastics, cork substitutes, wallboard and abrasives. How about the tiniest nut of all, the exquisite pine nut! Ancient documents suggest that the pine nut has the reputation of being a potent aphrodisiac all around the Mediterranean as well as the East. As far back as 100 BC the use of pine nuts was known to produce "desirable effects". Pine seeds come mainly from China, Italy, Mexico, Pakistan and Portugal. The largest of all nuts and the hardest to crack is the coconut. Once that woody brown shell is cracked however, a burst of sugary coconut milk as well as a ball of sweet tasty coconut meat, will make it worth your while. The queen of nuts and therefore the most expensive is the chestnut. Generally regarded as a Christmas treat it is low in calories and low in fat, which suits all to perfection. While you consume an average of 182 calories for every ounce of nuts, the chestnut only adds 54 to your intake. Desired equally by chipmunks and squirrels, the chestnut is making a strong comeback after a blight that wiped out most of Europe's and America's crops for over 100 years. This delectable, versatile and gentle nut is at home in your turkey stuffing, "roasting on an open fire", or majestically reigning in a mound of "Mont Blanc" purée topped with whipped cream on your dessert table. Just a morsel of a frosted "marron glacée" will make you feel like a King or Queen. What good is a nut if we can't get to the fruit inside the hard shell? Ancient peoples had their methods, but modern man needed to invent a convenient nutcracker. Though its creator is undocumented, 300 years ago in Ezgebirge, Germany a miner began carving wooden dolls to sell, from the bountiful forests of the region. Life had become "hard as nuts" as the Germans say, so he created a wooden soldier with a hinged jaw and lever to symbolically "crack his hard nut". The carvings caught on, their popularity grew, and a tradition was born. Inspired by the popular image of the strong, steady, Nutcracker soldier, ETA Hoffman in 1816 wrote a sad and dark fairy tale about the struggle between good and evil called The Nutcracker and the Mouse King. Alexander Dumas, modified the tale as a children's story and the Russian Imperial Ballet, commissioned Russia's premier composer of the time Peter Ilyitch Tchaikovsky to compose a score, for a full- length Nutcracker production. Thus The Nutcracker Ballet Suite was created 110 years ago in 1892, thrilling audiences in Russia and around the world. Rich with a magnificent score it tells the story of little Clara who receives a beautiful Nutcracker as a Christmas gift from her godfather. She takes it to bed and dreams of delightful scenes in Candyland, Dances of Snowflakes, Sugar Plum Fairies and beautiful Waltzing Flowers. She wakes up from her dream on Christmas Day, her Nutcracker doll in her arms and the wonderful memories of her adventure in Fantasyland on her most magical Christmas. It would not be Christmas without a collection of sights and sounds, tastes and smells, unique to the season. The scent of cinnamon and nutmeg, the flicker of bright red candles, Christmas cookies laid out, homes all decked with the boughs of holly and mistletoe, and maybe some "chestnuts roasting on an open fire", and your turkey roasting in the oven. And it certainly would not be Christmas if we did not indulge in our favourite Christmas edibles, foremost among them that incredible incomparable fruit that securely hides behind a hard shell, which we call "the nut". In all its many delicious varieties, take your pick of rare macadamias, stubborn brazil nuts, kidney- shaped cashews, or any of the above, in shell, shelled, blanched, slivered, chopped, roasted, sweetened or salted, the queen of snacks gives us oils, milks, wood, and beautiful trees. It is high in protein, fibre, calcium, minerals, vitamins A, E, C, phosphorus, potassium, unsaturated fatty acids, etc. What more can you ask of a nut! So, as it coaxes and courts you, enjoy without guilt the savoury nut and -- "Have yourself a Merry Little Christmas".
