Which nuts are actually nuts?

Botanically, most everyday “nuts” are not true nuts: almonds, cashews, pine nuts, Brazil nuts, walnuts, and pistachios are seeds, while peanuts are legumes related to peas and beans. The true nuts named in the article are pecans, macadamias, and hazelnuts. This distinction matters when you want to understand food categories, allergens, and nutrient composition more precisely, even though in cooking all of them are often grouped as nuts.

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Almond tree — **Almonds are not nuts!** They are seeds of the almond tree fruit.

Cashew apples — **Cashews** are also not nuts. They are seeds that grow at the end of a sweet fruit called the “cashew apple.”

**Pine nuts** are seeds, not nuts. They are found in the cones of certain species of pine trees.

**Brazil nuts** are also seeds. They come from a large tropical tree in the Amazon. They are considered one of the largest seeds in the world.

**Peanuts** are neither seeds nor nuts. They belong to the legume family. They grow underground and are more closely related to peas and beans.

**Walnuts** are the seeds of a stone fruit.

Even pistachios are not nuts. They are seeds of the pistachio tree fruit.[/caption>

So where are our eggs? I mean nuts. Attention, they are about to appear!

Nuts are pecan, macadamia, and hazelnut.

Sources

Nuts – MeSH: National Library of Medicine
Classification of Foods and Animal Feeds: Codex Alimentarius
Nutrient profiling model 2018: fruit, vegetables, nuts and seeds definitions
Recent advances in understanding and preventing peanut and tree nut hypersensitivity
Update on Tree Nut and Seed Allergies: Prevalence, Clinical Characteristics, Diagnosis, and Management

Published: 02.10.2024

Updated: 27.07.2026

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