For the longest time the nutcracker sat unused in my kitchen gadget drawer. Sturdy mahogany and shiny metal, inherited from my mothers’ kitchen, it sat dormant for a decade; maybe even two. It wasn’t that nuts weren’t eaten in our home, oh no! They were always front and center in the snack cabinet and baking pantry. And I regularly used them in my main course fare as well: ground nuts in my lentil loaf, whole cashews and peanuts in stir fries. But somewhere along the line I got lazy about my nuts, reaching for the cellophane bag of shelled nuts at the supermarket, and freely pouring from it at home. In the far recesses of my mind I recalled cracking nuts as a child, and even hand-chopping them for recipes. However, I admit the advance of pre-chopped was a convenience that I relished. What could be easier…and neater, too?

While nuts naturally grow in their own little packaging, at some point cracking the shell off became a lost ritual and the shelled, packaged nut industry really began to take off. Nuts began to appear in cans, jars and cellophane bags, to the delight of the consumer and the baker, who no longer had to crack them by the dozen. Cashews were always an exception to this trend; they always were and will be sold shelled. This is because the cashew shell itself is toxic, which is why it must be removed before it goes to market. Pistachios alone continue to hold the allure of being cracked open as part of the ritual, although they, too, are now being marketed as shelled, and the trend is catching on, with the unshelled pistachio nut called a kernel. However 80% of pistachios in America are still sold in-shell, this opposed to approximately 10% of walnuts and just 2% of almonds! According to The Almond Board of California, in-shell sales (as the industry refers to it) only rise slightly around the Christmas holidays. Conversely, 17% of export sales are in-shell, mostly to India and China.At home in most diets from vegan to paleo, the health benefits of nuts are manifold. Depending on the specific nut, you have a wonder food providing protein, with a host of micro-nutrients such as magnesium (almonds), phosphorus (walnuts), copper and manganese (pistachios), to name a just a few of the minerals nuts contain. A source of “good” fats, such as coveted omega-3’s, nuts are naturally gluten-free, high in fiber and anti-oxidants, and low on the glycemic index. The Harvard School of Public Health Nutrition Study cited nuts as one of five food categories associated with weight loss over time, as they contributed to an overall feeling of satiety.