[1] Snack and garnish away: Pistachios may have fewer calories than previously thought (photo © Paolo Zanin | SXC).

A USDA study presented on Monday shows that pistachio nuts, already one of the lowest-calorie nuts, may contain fewer calories per serving than originally thought.

Why? Scientific research indicates that fat from nuts is poorly absorbed through the gastrointestinal tract.

The study confirmed that the fat from pistachio nuts, specifically, is not completely digested or absorbed, resulting in a lower energy value. Energy value translates into calories. (The exact calorie savings has yet to be calculated.)

Fats make up the largest component of nuts. Here’s the nutritional breakdown for pistachios.

The study also confirmed the heart-health benefits of pistachios among individuals who included 1.5 to 3 ounces of pistachio nuts in their daily diets.

Pistachio nuts are also nutrient-dense and are an excellent source of copper and manganese vitamin B6 and a good source of dietary fiber, phosphorus, protein and thiamine.

February 26th is National Pistachio Day.

The almost 100 products—and more added weekly—are our favorites for gift-giving. Most have been NIBBLE Top Picks Of The Week.

Take a closer look at these cute chocolate chicks. Each is filled with a different flavor of creamy chocolate ganache.

If you’re looking for something more sophisticated, Choclatique fills Easter-colored bonbons with a selection of ganache, creams and caramels.

We welcome your feedback on The Nibble Gourmet Market and hope to become a go-to resource for gift-giving.

Ham spiral-sliced for a buffet. Photo courtesy
Cherry Marketing Institute.

If you typically have a sit-down Easter dinner, think about having a buffet this year.

Setting everything out at once and letting people serve themselves gives you more time to spend with your guests. It also enables you to accommodate more guests than your dining table allows–and it’s better for mingling.

You can place the food on a sideboard and seat guests at the dining table, or set the food on the dining table and let guests gather around the sofa or wherever they want to group and talk.

If you have outdoor space and the weather cooperates, some people may enjoy dining alfresco.

Observers of Passover must avoid a variety of foods for the duration of the holiday: grains (wheat, rye, barley, oats and spelt) and fermented products such as alcohol, among other things. Any permitted food, from milk and cheese to matzoh, must be certified kosher for Passover.

These rules can leave one scrambling for ingredients and enough products to keep things interesting for seven days.

This year, The Manischewitz Company has introduced more than 25 products to expand the possibilities. There’s Buttery Spray for baking and stove top pans. There are tasty macaroon pie shells in coconut and chocolate, making it easy to whip up a pie—think banana cream, chocolate silk or key lime.

You can make kosher-for-Passover cupcakes with the Magic Max Cupcake Fun Kit, nibble on Chocolate Covered Biscotti (not hard and crunchy like the conventional kind, but a fine nibble nevertheless), start the day with Honey Almond Crunch cereal and Brown Sugar Hot Cereal and end the day with chocolates, from Chocolate Covered Cherries to Mint Creme Candies.

See all of the products at Manischewitz.com.
  

Papaya Mango is the new limited edition
Snapple tea. Photo courtesy Snapple.

Last year, Snapple sponsored an episode of Celebrity Apprentice that allowed Bret Michaels to create one of our favorite Diet Snapple flavors ever, Trop-A-Rocka. The layering of mango, pear and cinnamon was the most complex Snapple flavor we’d come across. And it’s not just our opinion: the limited edition was so popular that it was made into a permanent member of the line.

A couple of weeks ago, Snapple debuted its newest limited edition tea, Snapple Papaya Mango Tea, in Episode 6 of The Amazing Race.

Inspired by the exotic flavors of India (where the contestants spent the second hour of the show), the flavor combines green tea, black tea and the lush fruit flavors of papaya and mango. It’s available in both regular and diet versions at participating retailers nationwide.

If you like Peach Snapple (and we know people who buy it by the case), you’ll want to try Snapple’s Papaya Mango Tea. Like Tropa-Rocka, it deserves to be a permanent member of the family.

What will be the next co-branded Snapple limited edition? Please, Snapple, not the Real Housewives. We’d have to draw the line.

Find a Snapple retailer near you and print a $1.00 coupon at Snapple.com.