Enjoy the Legendary Cashew Nut

Have you ever seen cashews growing on the tree? They are so weird-looking! The seed (what we call the “nut”) actually grows outside the bell-shaped fruit— like a clapper on the bell. Understandably, people have been curious about why they grow that way. In the Philippines there is even a popular folk legend about it: […]

Posted on April 2nd, 2019

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

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 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

The Tradition of Almonds and June Weddings

Juno and Jupiter

It’s June, the biggest month for weddings. Have you ever wondered why? Well, the tradition dates back to ancient Rome when they celebrated the festival of the Roman God Jupiter and his wife Juno on the first day of June. The month of June is actually named after Juno. She was the goddess of marriage […]

Posted on June 1st, 2018

Why Nuts are Traditional for Christmas

Nutcrackers

A big bowl of nuts with a nutcracker is always on our table at Christmas. And it’s hardly the Christmas season at all without the Nutcracker ballet on television or an old-fashioned nutcracker livening up the room. But where did the tradition of nuts and nutcrackers at Christmas come from? Well, it depends on who […]

Posted on November 26th, 2017