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Thursday 28 March 2019

Walnut

The walnut nut is originally from Persia and Turkey. The ancient Greeks learnt how to cultivate walnut trees, and the Romans adopted this skill in around 100 BC, bringing it to Britain with their legions.

Archaeological digs reveal walnuts were eaten by humans in France possibly as many as 17,000 years ago.

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The Romans thought that walnuts enhanced both desire and fertility, and scattered them over wedding couples like confetti.

Roman women used ground-up walnut shells to burn off body hair.

In Ancient Greece and medieval Britain, physicians used walnuts to treat mental illness and headaches, believing that the nut's skull-like shell and brain-shaped kernel symbolised its magical curative powers.

English merchants traded the walnut tree around the world, so that it became known as the 'English walnut'.

In California, walnuts have been grown since the 1700s, brought to the state by Franciscan missionaries. Now, the Central Valley of California produces 99 percent of total United States commerce in English walnuts.

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American President George Washington blamed his poor dental health on breaking open walnut shells with his teeth.

In 2016, worldwide production of walnuts (in shell) was 3.7 million tonnes, with China contributing 48% of the world total.

A villager in China unknowingly used a hand grenade to crack walnuts for over 20 years, until he saw the grenade in a government flyer.

The walnut tree may reach 30 metres (100 ft) and produces a full crop of nuts about a dozen years after planting.

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Walnut tree timber is very hard and dark in color. It is a favorite in furniture making.

The world's largest walnut tree forest is in Kyrgyzstan. Hugging the 6,500-foot-high slopes in the shadow of the Babash-Ata mountains it covers At 11,000 hectares (27,000 acres),

Walnut husks can be used to make a durable ink for writing and drawing. The ink's good archival properties is thought to have been used by several great artists including Leonardo da Vinci and Rembrandt.

Walnut ink was once used to stain the hands of criminals in Romani communities. Once stained, it is impossible to wash off and remains in the skin for a long period of time.

Today, the walnut is immensely popular in France's Dordogne region, where, despite a diet high in foie gras and other animal fats, the residents enjoy the second-lowest rate of heart disease in the world.

Walnuts are rich in polyphenols, chemicals that help the body ward off cancer, cardiovascular disease and Alzheimer's disease.


Most off-putting is the walnut's calorie count: two handfuls contain 650 calories.

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