nut
Quick Summary
In botany, a nut is a dry fruit with a hard shell that doesn't split open at maturity to release its single seed. True nuts include chestnuts, hazelnuts, and acorns.1
Many foods commonly called nuts are not botanically true nuts. For example, walnuts, pistachios, almonds, and coconuts are seeds of drupe fruits, while peanuts are legumes, and Brazil nuts are seeds from a capsule fruit.1
Culinary nuts are generally seeds or fruits with a high fat content. Pine nuts, for instance, are edible seeds from pine trees and are known for their rich flavor and high fat and protein content. These culinary nuts are often grouped with vegetables and fruits in discussions of human nutrition due to their plant-based origins, though their high fat content distinguishes them.234
Ask Britannica AI about this topic
Britannica doesn't have a full article on this topic, so we've curated a list of our relevant coverage.
