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[1] You can fill a jar of mixed nuts with honey or agave to create an instant dessert topping (photo © Elena Schweitzer | Panther Media).
[2] Well Market jar goes here (photo © CVS).
[3] Rainbow trout with sliced almonds. Sautéed fish amandine—spelled almondine in English—is a classic French preparation (photo © Bar Boulud | NYC).
[4] Nutty pasta, here, rigatoni with hazelnuts. Nuts in Italian dishes vary by local supply. You can more easily match the nuts to the other flavors in your dish. Here’s the recipe (photo © Hazelnut Growers Of Oregon).
[5] Here, the nuts are mixed with the vegetables. The recipe (photos #5, #6, #9, #10 © American Pecan Council).
[6] A breakfast bowl of fried egg atop quinoa, roasted cherry tomatoes, and fresh herbs, with za’atar-spieced pecans for extra protein, flavor, and crunch. Here’s the recipe.
[7] We could sprinkle pistachios on just about everything. This cucumber salad adds them along with feta, dill, and pickled onions. Here’s the recipe (photos #7 and #11 © Colavita Recipes).
[8] Garnish just about any breakfast food starting with pancakes, waffles, cottage cheese, and yogurt. Nuts add a hit of protein and fiber (photo © Mae Mu | Unsplash).
[9] Pecans on a roasted butternut and kale side dish. Here’s the recipe.
[10] A breakfast bowl with fried egg on quinoa with za’atar-spiced pecans Here’s the recipe.
[11] The pistachio garnish on this sugar pea and ricotta pizza is pure inspiration. Here’s the recipe.
[12] You can nuts to any grain dish. Here’s the recipe for this Cashew Rice Pilaf (photo © Taste Of Home).
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The Nibble’s focus is primarily on artisan foods, as opposed to mass-produced grocery store brands. Artisan products are typically made with better ingredients, less added salt and sugar, fewer or no additives, and in smaller batches, which leads to better-tasting foods.
But the line of Well Market Nuts, from CVS Pharmacy’s* private label snack line, surprised us with their fresh taste. We liked their Unsalted Mixed Nuts so much, that we ordered six large jars as soon as we had snacked our way through the first jar.
The flavors are fresh and clean—no salt required. They tasted like they were just roasted.
We’re delighted to have a great mixed nut brand without the added salt.
There are numerous other varieties than the unsalted mix. We’ve listed them below. Take a look. But first…
WHY NUTS ARE A VERY HEALTHY SNACK
In addition to snacks, whether whole or chopped, you can nuts for:
Baking, including gluten-free pie crusts.
Breakfast garnish for hot or cold cereal, pancakes and waffles, yogurt and cottage cheese.
Dessert garnish, on everything from ice cream to cheesecake to fruit salad to pudding.
Garnish on cheese and charcuterie boards, grains, hummus and other dips and spreads, roasted vegetables, soups and stews.
Garnish on salads instead of croutons.
Snacks: Add to popcorn, trail mix.
> These are the 7 most heart-healthy nuts.
> Check out the year of 35 nut holidays, below.
> The history of cashew nuts.
> The history of hazelnuts.
> The history of peanuts.
> The history of pecans.
> The history of pistachio nuts.
> The history of walnuts.
> Surprise: Most of the nuts you eat are not true nuts. The scoop is below.
WELL MARKET NUTS: THE WHOLE LINE
Cashews
Fancy Whole Cashews With Sea Salt
Lightly Salted Cashews
Olive Oil Roasted Colossal Cashews With Pink Salt
Unsalted Fancy Whole Cashews
Macadamias
Dry Roasted Macadamias
Honey Roasted Macadamia Nuts
Roasted Cashews & Macadamias
Mixed Nuts
Nut Trio With Sea Salt (almonds, cashews pistachios)
Olive Oil Roasted Colossal Mixed Nuts With Pink Salt
Olive Oil Roasted Keto Mix Olive Oil (almonds, macadamias, pistachios)
Olive Oil Roasted Nut Trio With Pink Salt(almonds, macadamias, pistachios)
Deluxe Mixed Nuts With Sea Salt (almonds, cashews, pecans, pistachios)
Roasted Mediterranean Blend With Sea Salt (almonds, hazelnuts, pistachios, walnuts)
Unsalted Deluxe Mixed Nuts (almonds, cashews, pistachios)
There are also flavored varieties; for example:
Mexican Hot Cocoa Roasted Almonds, Honey Sriracha Cashew, Spicy Chili Crunch Roasted Cashews
Chocolate-Covered Almonds, Cashews, Nut Trio, Peanuts, Protein Boosted Dark Chocolate Almonds
And more salted roasted nuts, from pecan halves to peanuts.
There are so many choices, it’s tough to know where to begin. Might we suggest the Unsalted Mixed Nuts?
GET YOUR WELL MARKET NUTS
The retail stores we visited CVS is likely to carry only a few of the most popular varieties. We went online to order ours.
> Head to CVS.com.
As of this writing, the Mixed Nuts were buy one, get one 1/2 off.
ARE NUTS THE FRUIT OF TREES?
Not all nuts are the fruit of trees. The confusion often comes from the culinary definition of nuts, which is much broader than the botanical definition.
That’s because in culinary parlance, “nuts” are defined by how we use them as food. Thus, unless you’re a botanist, you’d define a nut as any hard-shelled, edible kernel that can be used as a snack or food ingredient.
This mixed-up group called nuts share similar nutritional profiles and culinary uses.
While most botanical nuts do come from trees (acorns, chestnuts, hazelnuts/filberts), being a tree fruit isn’t what makes something a true nut. What defines a true nut concerns the fruit wall and seed structure. Almonds, peanuts, and pine nuts, for example, are botanically legumes or seeds.
In fact, most of the nuts we eat are not true nuts. To be a true nut:
The seed and fruit wall (pericarp) are fused together.
The fruit wall is hard and woody.
The fruit doesn’t split open when ripe.
Usually contains a single seed.
Thus:
An apple is a tree fruit but not a nut.
A hazelnut is both a tree fruit and a true nut.
An almond grows on a tree but is technically a seed within a drupe† (i.e., a stone fruit).
NUTS THAT AREN’T REALLY NUTS
Legumes
Peanuts are legumes that grow underground, more closely related to peas and beans than to tree nuts.
Seeds
Brazil nuts: seeds from a large pod.
Pine nuts: seeds from pine cones.
Seeds That Grow Within Drupes
Almonds: seeds from fruits related to apricots and peaches.
Macadamia nuts: seeds from a fruit’s hard shell.
Pistachios: seeds of a fruit that splits when ripe.
Drupes (Stone Fruits)
Coconuts: a very large drupe (and also technically a seed and a fruit).
Pecans: the seed portion of a drupaceous‡ fruit.
Walnuts: the seed portion of a drupaceous‡ fruit.
This is why people with peanut allergies might not be allergic to tree nuts, e.g.
A YEAR OF NUT HOLIDAYS
January To June
July To December
12: National Marzipan Day
26: National Peanut Brittle
Day
February
National Macadamia Nut
Month
16: National Almond Day
25: National Chocolate
Covered Nut Day
26: National Pistachio Day
March
National Peanut Month
8: National Peanut Cluster
Day
11: National Oatmeal Nut
Waffles Day
15: National Peanut Lovers
Day
26: National Nougat Day
April
National Pecan Month
9: National Chinese Almond
Cookie Day
14: National Pecan Day
17: National Cheese Ball
Day
19: National Amaretto Day
21: National Chocolate
Covered Cashews Day
May
12: National Nutty Fudge
Day
17: National Walnut Day
June
23: National Pecan Sandies
Day
24: National Pralines Day
29: National Almond
Buttercrunch Day
July
8: National Chocolate With
Almonds Day
12: National Pecan Pie Day
August
3: National Grab Some Nuts
Day
20: National Chocolate
Pecan Pie Day
22: National Pecan Torte
Day
25: National Banana Split
Day
31: National Trail Mix Day
September
4: National Macadamia Nut
Day
13: National Peanut Day
21: National Pecan Cookie Day
October
Nothing This Month
November
7: National Bittersweet
Chocolate with Almonds Day
17: National Baklava Day
23: National Cashew Day
December
14: Roast Chestnuts Day
22: National Date Nut Bread
Day
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*CVS Trivia: CVS stands for Consumer Value Stores, the name of the first store in the CVS pharmacy chain. The name was chosen to reflect the company’s goal of providing the best value to its customers. CVS has grown to become a major healthcare company and drugstore chain.
The first CVS store opened in Lowell, Massachusetts in 1963. The store sold health and beauty products. The name was changed to CVS the following year.
†What are drupes? Almonds, coffee beans, coconuts, and all the stone fruits (apricots, cherries, olives, peaches, plums, and others) are all classic drupes: fruits that have an inner flesh and seed surrounded by a hard shell.
‡How are drupaceous nuts different? Pecans, walnuts and some other tree nuts are called drupaceous nuts because they are difficult to categorize—neither true drupes nor true botanical nuts.
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