The Oracle of the Nuts

Oracle of the Nuts

Happy Nut-Crack Night! That’s an old Scots and Northern England name for the October 31st holiday of Halloween. It’s starting to get pretty cold in Great Britain at this time of year and people would often sit by the fire, eating the last harvest of nuts and playing divination games. Given that nuts were already […]

Posted on October 30th, 2018

Want to Improve Your Mood? Eat More Nuts!

Woman in a Good Mood

Followers of this blog know by now that nuts can be a wonderful part of a healthy diet for physical reasons. They are full of protein and lots of good nutrients and, when eaten in moderation, studies have shown that they can help lower your risk of heart disease, help control diabetes, lower your bad […]

Posted on September 27th, 2018

Are You Eating a Nut or a Seed?

Nuts and Seeds

Or could it be both? It turns out that nuts are seeds but not all seeds are nuts. And then there are foods we popularly call nuts that might technically be considered fruit! AND there are nut-like seeds found inside some fruits that are botanically called something else altogether: drupes! It’s all so confusing. I […]

Posted on September 25th, 2018

Why Squirrels Gathering Nuts Might Predict the Weather

Squirrel Eating A nut

The squirrels in my backyard are gathering nuts like crazy. And that’s VERY fun to watch because our local squirrels are very smart and cunning! You see, the squirrels in my neighborhood like to go from yard to yard by traveling on the rail just below the top of the fence line where they can’t […]

Posted on September 14th, 2018

The Wonderful Weird and Delicious Cashew

  The first time I saw a cashew growing in a garden beside the side of a road in Hawaii, I stopped dead in my tracks. “What on Earth is that crazy looking thing?!!!” There on a very handsome looking tree were bright red and yellow bell-shaped fruits with a bulging curved “bell clapper” like […]

Posted on August 30th, 2018

California Almonds Help Feed the World

Flags of the World Globe

Did you know that 70% of the almonds grown in California are exported all over the world? Not only that, California almonds represent 80% of the almonds eaten in the world as a whole! Germany is the biggest importer of almonds followed by Japan and the Netherlands. Here is just a short list of how almonds fit into the […]

Posted on August 14th, 2018

Why We’re Proud to Dry Roast Our Nuts at Maisie Jane’s

Dry Roasted Almonds

Well, the first thing I can’t seem to help myself from saying is that it is far better to dry roast nuts than human beings! I’m roasting in my house as I’m writing this blog post tonight! It’s 8:30 pm and still 96ºF! Of course, that’s an improvement over the 106º we hit earlier in […]

Posted on July 31st, 2018

A Few Odd Facts about the Pistachio

Chocolate Toffee Pistachios

What’s your favorite ice cream flavor? I have too many favorites to really choose just one but pistachio is always close to the top of my list! When I was young pistachios were considered a special treat. Because it takes several years for a pistachio tree to bear fruit, they produce well only every other […]

Posted on July 19th, 2018

The Legend of Gilda and the Almond Blossoms

Almond Tree in Bloom

It being June, the month of weddings, I thought I’d share a love story—one involving almond trees, of course! This tale comes from Algarve, Portugal, a gorgeously scenic place on the Mediterranean. It’s a popular tourist destination but is also important agriculturally in the region. Almonds are one of the largest crops—the stuff of legends, no […]

Posted on June 19th, 2018

Almond — Perfume of the Gods and Goddesses

For me, the smell of almond paste either in a freshly made croissant or some other wonderful almond dessert is such a heady experience I want to wear it like a perfume! I just love it, so one day I decided to look into the use of almond oil in perfumery. What I discovered was […]

Posted on June 8th, 2018