Nuts have been used as food by animals and humans since prehistory. What we often call nuts are not actually nuts at all botanically, because a true nut has an internal seed surrounded by a woody shell that does not open on its own (indehiscent). Thus, things like walnuts and acorns are nuts, whilst pistachios and peanuts are not. However, for our purposes we shall classify any large seed, usually with quite a lot of fat, as a nut.
Many of you know that I often gather wild nuts in the fall for holiday cooking, and I shall not repeat much of that, but rather refer you to a piece that I wrote about it some time ago here. I do have a bit of an update at the end of the piece.
As an aside, tomorrow would have been my mum's 91st birthday. She left this vale of tears way too early. Quite a bit of what I speak about tonight had to do with her cooking savvy, and I am honored to write this with respect to her. She was a wonderful person, but like all of us had her feet of clay, but that is not the purpose tonight. I point this out merely to remember her, and hope that you think kindly of her tomorrow. She was one of a kind.