What is a nut? A nut is a fruit from a plant, made up of a hard shell and a seed. Most nuts can be eaten and are a rich source of fat. Many are squashed for their oil.

Nut, seed, fruit

Seeds that people often refer to as 'nuts'. Only a few are real nuts (with a hard shell).

A nut is a fruit. Unlike an apple, for example, wehre the seds are in the middle of a pulpy fruit, nuts have a hard shell surrounding the seed. If you can get to the seed, it is good to eat and nutritious. Generally people call a great variety of seed 'nuts', although to a scientist nuts are only those fruits where the shell does not open to release the seed.

True nuts include hazelnuts, chestnuts and acorns, but most people think of nuts as including almonds, pecans, pistachios, walnuts, and Brazil nuts. So on a shop, a nut will be any large, oily seeds found within a shell.

Video: What happens to acorns.

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