| Many people, including scientists, are confused about the distinction between nuts and seeds. |
| Some dictionaries say a nut is also a seed, |
| others say a nut is a fruit, |
| and still others say a nut can be both a fruit and a seed. |
| How can an average person tell the difference? |
| Well, in a nutshell, nuts are seeds but seeds cannot be nuts. |
| Clear as a bell, right? |
| Part of the confusion stems from the fact that seeds and nuts are classified differently |
| for botanical purposes and culinary ones. |
| Botanists, that is, scientists who study plants, |
| define a seed as part of the, er, a flowering plant or tree that will grow into a new plant or tree |
| if it's, uh, buried in the ground and germinated. |
| In this respect it's similar to a human egg, |
| which becomes an embryo when fertilized by sperm. |
| Sometimes the plant embryo becomes enclosed in a covering, called an integument: |
| INTEGUMENT. |
| The embryo plus its integument, therefore, constitute a seed. |
| Um, sunflower seeds are good examples of this. |
| You've got to crack open the black outer part, the integument, |
| to eat the white embryo inside, right? |
| That's why we call them sunflower seeds, and not sunflower nuts. |
| However, it's possible for an embryo to have no type of integument at all. |
| As these embryos grow, the tissue surrounding them develops into a fruit. |
| We see this form in many berries, as well as tomatoes, and in peanuts and beans. |
| So an embryo, or seed, doesn't need a covering to be called a fruit. |
| Now, some plants produce a type of fruit called nuts. |
| A nut is a plant fruit containing a single seed (with or without integument) |
| that does not attach itself to the ovary, or, uh, inside the wall of the nut. |
| Nuts have a dry, tough outer shell that doesn't crack open when the seed becomes mature. |
| Acorns, chestnuts, and walnuts are good examples of nuts. |
| In the botanical sense, a nut is a seed because it is a compound ovary; |
| it contains both the seed and the fruit of a plant. |
| Usually, a plant's seed can be separated from its fruit, |
| like when you poke seeds from a watermelon. |
| But with nuts, the part inside the outer shell contains both the seed and the fruit, |
| and these can't be pulled apart. |
| This inside part of the nut, the part inside the outer shell, is called a kernel. |
| The kernel is definitely not a nut. |
| It's a fruit. |
| People often eat the kernel, and when they do this, |
| they say they are eating a nut, |
| for example, "I'm eating a pecan," |
| or "I'm eating a chestnut". |
| What they should be saying, technically, is |
| "I'm eating pecan meat" or "I'm eating a chestnut kernel". |
| In the same sense, |
| a peanut typically refers to the entire package of seed-slash-fruit encased in its outer shell, |
| as well as to the edible inner seed-slash-fruit. |
| So, while a nut is botanically classified as a seed, |
| it is primarily in this culinary sense that people confuse nuts and seeds. |
| Because a nut in cuisine is more, uh, loosely defined than a nut in botany, |
| the term "nut" gets slapped on many seeds that are not true nuts. |
| Almonds, for example, are mistakenly called nuts, |
| even though they actually are the edible seeds of plants called drupes, |
| as are coconuts and pistachio nuts. |
| Cashews are another example of nuts that are really seeds, |
| along with Brazil nuts, which are seeds that come from capsules. |
| In culinary language, |
| any kernel used in cooking that is found within a shell may be labeled as a nut. |
| One attribute nuts and seeds have in common is that they are both highly nutritious. |
| Nuts are a great source of energy because they have lots of oil, |
| and are also an excellent source of protein, fiber, magnesium and zinc. |
| Additionally, recent... recent studies have also shown they are beneficial for the blood and heart. |
| Many seeds are packed with vitamin E, which is touted for its anti-aging properties. |
| Nuts and seeds are good not only for humans, but also for wildlife, |
| a fact confirmed each fall when animals such as squirrels, chipmunks and jays |
| can be seen busily storing nuts to avoid starvation in the coming winter cold. |