NUT (AS. kaubta, Icel. /JIM. 011(). urn:. Ger. Nuss, nut). A hard. one-seeded, indehiseent (non-opening) fruit, which has usually Mlle from au ovary of several carpels, as the acorn, hazelnut. etc. (See FRUIT.) The best-known and most valuable nuts are almonds. Persian or English walnuts, vocoanuts, pecans. Brazil nuts, hazelnuts. chestnuts. and the various hickory nut., butternuts, etc.. all of which arc edible and of commercial ilneortalree. Strictly speaking. the peanut is not a nut, although en ly spoken of as such. The various nuts are considered under their separate headings.
In 1899 the United States imported 9.957.427 pounds of ahnonds, having a value of $1,222,557, The value of the cocoanuts imported amounted to $625,789. and of all other nuts. $879,166. The exports of domestic nuts the same year amounted to $140.250. The most important nuts now grown commercially in the United States are the Persian or English walnuts. almonds, pecans. and chestnuts. The culture of the first two is confined almost entirely to California. The Persian walnut crop amounts to about a million pounds a year, and the almond crop to between 600.000 and 800.000 pounds. Pecan orchards are largely confined to the Southern and Southwestern States and California. lint the hulk of the crop is obtained from native tree in Louisiana and Texas. Commercial chestnut orchards are few in number in the United States, but they tire increasing from year to year, European and Japanese varieties being largely used to top graft the small native sweet varieties. As with pecans, the bulk of the crop is produced on wild trees. Other native nuts of the United States. which have a greater local than commercial value, are black walnuts, butter nuts, the various shellbark hickory nuts, hazel nuts, and chinquapin.
Foot) VAIXE. From 50 to 65 per cent. of the nuts most commonly eaten (almonds, Brazil nuts, lilla-rts. hickory nuts. 'weans, and walnuts) con sist of shell. All of these mils eontain lit tle water. The percentage of protein is fairly high. but fat constitutes the largest part of the edible portion. and carbohydrate., whip)) are usually important enlist ituents in vegetable foods,are generally pres ent in small amounts. The chestnut. however. con tains nearly 40 per rent. carbohydrates. The per centage in coeonnuts. IINITI1S, and litchi nuts is also fairly high. The meat of nuts. excepting those last mentioned, eontaiits nearly fifty times as flinch fat and less than one.tlfth as much carbo hydrates as wheat flour, and has about double the fuel value. i.e. energy-produeing power. A pound of unshelled nuts will furnish about half as much protein and the same amount of energy as a pound of flour. Owing to their high fuel value and low protein content, nuts would not make a well-balanced food when eaten by them selves. This is no reason, however, why nuts :Mould not fill an increasingly large place in dietaries. Very few foods supply the needed nutrients in the proper proportion to form a well-balanced ration. Foods rich in fuel con
stituents need to be eombined with other foods of relatively high protein content.
The composition of a number of different kinds of nuts used as food is shown in the following table: (Washington, 1896) ; Fuller, at Caltarist (New York, 1890); Parry, Nuts for Profit ( Parryville, N. J.. 1897) ; Maine Agricultural Experiment Station, Bulletin 54„Vats us l'ood (Orono, Alaine, 1899).
NOT, nit. An Egyptian goddess, the wife of Seb (q.v,), or, according to other accounts. of the sun-god IL. She personified the sky, and is usually represented as a naked woman bending, with feet and hands touching the ground. over Se (the earth), who lies prostrate beneath her. Nan is also depicted as a cow uplifted by the god Shu and supported by other divinities, while over There is little reliable information regarding the digestibility of nuts. The belief that they are indigestible, i.e. digest with difficulty, caus ing more or less pain or distress, seems to be widespread, and perhaps has some basis in faet. It is quite probable that if the nuts were prop erly prepared and eaten at proper times much of this prejudice would disappear. There is also a general belief that salt eaten with them aids in their digestion. The present practice of munch ing them at odd hours. or as a dessert. when sufficient food has been taken to meet the re quirements of the body, overtaxes the digestive organs and places the nut under a reproach that is, at least in part, undeserved. While most nut meats are generally eaten without any previous preparation. they may he used in a variety of ways. Chopped nut meats are inneh relished for sandiviches, and nut salads are not uncommon, while nuts, most commonly chestnuts, are often used as stuffing for roast fowl. The use of nuts in cakes, confectionery, creams, etc., is common. Large quantities of peeans are used by con fectioners for making salted pecans, and bonbons of various sorts; and in some European coun tries. where the chestnut is abundant, bread is made from the ground kernels. :Many attempts have been male to prepare nut foods, and to extend their use in various ways. An oil used for and other culinary purposes is ex pressed from beechnuts. walnuts, and very like ly from others. Cocoanut nil is much used for culinary purposes, especially in the tropics. This and other nut oils also have various commercial uses.
Consult: United States Department of Agri culture, Nut Culture. in. the United States her body, which is adorned with stars, travels the bark of the sun. In the legend, the sun-god weary of ruling over the earth, retires to rest upon the back of the celestial cow, which typifies the goddess Consult: Wiedemann, Religion of the Ancient Egyptians (New York, I591) ; Lepsi us, (We?. die Witter der (qr.?' Etc mcote (Berlin. 1856) : Brugsch, Religion and Mythologic (Leipzig, 1888-90).