(1 ounce/28.4 g)
Calories: 175 (733 kJ
Protein: 6.8 g
Total fat: 16.7 g
Saturated fat: 1 g
Carbohydrates: 2.8 g
Fiber: 1.9 g
Walnuts are exceptionally nutritious nuts. They have higher antioxidant activity and significantly more healthy omega-3 fats than any other common nut. This rich nutrient profile contributes to the many health benefits associated with walnuts. Including, reduced inflammation and improved heart disease risk factors.
There are about fifteen different species of walnuts growing throughout the world. They are indigenous to eastern Asia, southeastern Europe, and North and South America. All walnuts are edible. However, the Persian or English walnut is probably the most delicious and certainly the most important. It is believed to be native to a vast region including Turkey, Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan, southern Russia, and northern India.
In ancient times Juglans regia was known as “the nut of the Gods.” In the first century A.D., the Roman scholar Pliny stated that the walnut had been sent to Greece from Persia “by the kings”, the best quality walnut was, therefore, known as “Persian and royal” At that time the walnut was considered to be superior to other common nuts such as acorns, beech nuts, and chestnuts.
Those unacquainted with walnuts may not be aware of the fact that they can be tapped in the spring for their rising sweet sap. The liquid is then boiled down into sugar. This procedure is widespread in eastern Russia, Mongolia, and northern China.
A distinction should be made between commercial walnut slowing nut production on the one hand and the number of walnuts right for the market on the other. Nut-producing trees should have large crowns and considerable branching to support large amounts of fruit. Growing East to West along Europe and Asia, the walnut tree was found to be tolerant of many diverse climates. Planted for both ornamental as well as for timber purposes. In colder climates, far fewer edible walnuts are produced.
The eastern black walnut is native to the deciduous forests of the eastern United States and Canada. It is the largest of the native species of North America, reaching a height of up to 150 feet, k bears dark-colored, edible nuts within a thick, hard, black shell smaller in size, more circular in outer shape, and somewhat stronger flavor than that of the Persian walnut. Its high-quality wood has long been prized for furniture, cabinet making, and gunstocks.
Black walnut is, in fact, the most valuable hardwood in America, Fantastic prices have been paid for black walnut trees, up to $30,000 for a single tree with an especially long, clear bole. The reason that the price of black walnut wood is important is because this will lead to harvesting more black walnut trees. Bringing down the overall amount of bulk English walnuts making their way to your supermarket. Overall, more trees mean more walnuts in the market. Leading to a lower price happening in 2023 in the market for the walnut.
There is a brisk demand for black walnuts. Especially, during the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays for use in candies, cakes, and ice cream. During this same time of the year, these nuts are scarce and expensive the average retail price in late 1994 was roughly $5.49 per pound. So, Black Walnuts are more popular to eat in America. But, in America, we grow more English Walnuts and they are mostly exported.
Walnuts are oval-shaped, green, leathery, and aromatic, and occur in groups of one to three. The hull encloses the familiar tan-colored fruit; the smooth, large nuts of the Persian walnut separate easily from the hulls at maturity. In the cultivated varieties, the shells are thin and easily broken. The kernel consists of two identical lobes, united at the apex; the ivory-colored nut meat is protected by a thin, light-brown testa. The hulls fall away from the shells more readily in the Persian or English walnut than in the black walnut. The kernel of the former is likewise easier to withdraw from the shell intact than that of the black walnut, which has a somewhat denser endo-carp. The inner shell of the black walnut is more difficult to crack without damaging the kernels, so they are usually sold already shelled.
The walnut diet contained roughly three times the ratio of polyunsaturated to saturated fat found in the other low-fat diet. They report some drop in cholesterol was expected anyway, said David Kritchevsky (2020 – 2006) of the Wistar Institute in Philadelphia. What no one anticipated, he noted, was the magnitude of the health benefits of walnuts being the lowering of cholesterol. Researchers consider this a heart-saving effect.
Walnuts are often mentioned as a benefit when eating breakfast. Along with berries, it creates a dual impact on reducing heart disease. It leads to starting the body on a healthy path to living the best day possible.
In China, green walnut husks would routinely gather. Then they would boil it in enough water to cover them to a depth of about 2 inches for 11 hours. Alternatively, they might boil them until half the liquid remained. This bitter-tasting brew was strained and stored in corked jugs until ready to be used. Heating the liquid to lukewarm and giving it to a patient in one-cup amounts. Doing this twice daily on an empty stomach to stop diarrhea. One-half cup of the same lukewarm liquid was prescribed as an effective gargle for sore throats and tonsillitis with very good success. Poultices steeped in some of the cold juice would be applied on areas of the skin afflicted with ringworm. This would soon clear up that problem. Similarly, walnut bark in powder form would have a use to cover the area for the same purpose.
A popular remedy in parts of Germany for many decades has been a tea made from walnut leaves to help dry up continual sinus discharges in young chidden and adults. Two tablespoons of walnut leaves would add to boiling water, stirred, covered, removed from the heat, and allow to steep for 30 minutes. One-half cup the lukewarm tea, strained, is given to young children every 4 hours to help stop a runny nose. One cup of warm-leaf tea every 3 hours is suitable for adults with head colds.
The same tea makes an excellent wash for a variety of skin afflictions. Some German teenagers suffering from bad cases of acne vulgaris would receive treatment from their grandmothers or mothers with this remedy on a regular basis. In time have regained clear complexions. They also drank the tea internally.
Older people who have trouble with eczema and psoriasis report considerable relief after washing. The afflicted body parts would wash with this same tea several times a day. The tea not only relieves the itching and inflammation but actually helps to heal the skin, too. Tea using the health benefits of walnuts contributes to the overall health of the body helping alleviate issues to all kinds of systems in the body.
In the summer of 1992, researchers at Loma Linda (California) University Medical School reported epidemiological data discovered an issue. The diets of Seventh-Day Adventists rarely eat nuts and therefore suffer more heart attacks and coronary deaths. The research shows roughly twice the rate of those who eat nuts five times a week. Then, in the spring of the following year, these same researchers came up with the reason for this. By comparing the results of two four-week-long dietary intervention trials in 18 men. The findings discovered that eating moderate amounts of walnuts, without increasing total dietary fat and calories, decreases serum cholesterol levels. Favorably modifying the lipoprotein profile in the health benefits of walnuts for men.
Both experimental diets derived 30 percent of their calories from fat. A level recommended by the American Heart Association and 14 percent lower than the typical American diet. Typically, containing a whopping 35 percent fat. Writing on March 4, 1993, New England Journal of Medicine, Joan Sabaté and her coworkers report that substituting walnuts for two-thirds of the fat in such a relatively low-fat diet further lowers cholesterol concentrations in the blood by more than 10 percent. The health benefits of walnuts become obvious with larger concentrations in the diet.
We are going to look at the natural substance called ellagic acid.
It occurs in fruits such as strawberries and in certain nuts, like those from Brazil. It has cancer-prevention properties about it. This is probably why there is consistently a recommendation for patients to eat grapes. For many decades, folk healers and naturopathic physicians use them for getting rid of tumors (because of their high ellagic acid contents).
Bulk walnut meat and its husks contain a fair amount of this substance, which also has sedating activity. Native Americans have previously employed walnuts to stupefy fish. The fish would float to the surface then they can easily scoop in great numbers into a large net. This prompted at least one southern state, Mississippi, to pass a law barring the use of walnuts, dynamite, or gunpowder to catch fish.
