Walnut Description
Walnut is primarily a strong tree, with a spreading dense crown and a very developed and powerful root system, the diameter of which exceeds the size of the crown by five times. The fruits are oval in shape, the size of an apricot. The edible kernel of the walnut is enclosed in a hard shell, which in turn is located in a soft green peel. If you peel it off with your hands, trying to remove the nut, the skin will turn dark brown, which does not wash off for several days. Therefore, it is better to wait until the fruit has fully ripened, when the green peel bursts itself and the nut falls to the ground.
The homeland of the walnut is considered Central and Asia Minor, from where it spread throughout the world, including to Russia. In Russia it was called Voloshsky, Tsarist, and Mahogany, but the name "Greek" stuck, because it was Greek merchants who at one time delivered overseas walnut to Russia.
This tree is unpretentious, propagated by seeds, the very walnuts, which, getting into the soil, take root and take root. Despite the fact that this is a fast-growing culture, the tree begins to bear fruit only in the eighth to tenth year. Walnut tree is a long-liver. It lives four hundred to five hundred years or more, continuing to bring crops all this time. Nowadays, walnut groves and wild trees can be found everywhere in the Crimea, Moldova, Central Asia, the Caucasus, the Tien Shan, and North India. In some countries, such as China, Iran, Turkey, Egypt, USA, Romania, Ukraine, walnuts are cultivated and exported, as well as engaged in selection. Thanks to breeders, walnut varieties with a thin shell appeared at one time, which is very convenient, and with an increased oil content - a valuable food product.
Walnut - beneficial properties
That the product was both tasty and healthy at the same time - this is not so common. Walnut is exactly the case. It tastes good and is very useful - it contains antioxidants, amino acids, iron, cobalt, iodine, zinc, phosphorus, vitamins of group B, C, PP, E. It is especially necessary for people who are engaged in mental, hard physical labor, as well as living in places with increased radioactive background. To satisfy the body's need for useful elements, it is enough to eat four to five nuts daily.
Walnuts must be consumed to strengthen immunity, as well as the prevention of anemia, heart disease, blood vessels, atherosclerosis. They help increase potency, especially if taken with raisins, prunes and dried apricots. For the treatment of the thyroid gland, mastopathy, fibroma, benign tumors, diabetes mellitus, tincture from walnut partitions is used.
No matter how medicinal and healthy the walnut is, some people should use it with caution or completely exclude it from the diet. First of all, this applies to allergy sufferers suffering from psoriasis, neurodermatitis, because walnut is a fairly strong allergen. It is not recommended to use walnuts for children under three years of age, pregnant women, with enteritis, colitis, ulcers. The disadvantages include a rather high calorie content of the product, which is higher than chocolate, so people with obesity and overweight need to consume them in a limited way. In order to avoid unpleasant moments, such as heaviness in the stomach, allergic rashes, vasospasm, headache, it is not recommended to use more than 8-10 nuts per day.
Walnut - Calories
The calorie content of 100 g of walnuts is: 648 kcal.
Walnut - Cooking Use
Walnuts are tasty in themselves, they can be clicked at your leisure. But they are no less popular in cooking. Nuts have long and universally been used in the preparation of various dishes, giving them an exquisite taste. Be it sauces, soups, meat, vegetables, salads, desserts, not to mention baking. Especially widely used in cooking, nuts are used in eastern and Caucasian cuisine. Who does not know such dishes as satsivi, baklava, nougat, churchkhela. Without nuts, it is impossible to imagine some varieties of ice cream or sweets, as well as cakes, pastries, cookies, halva.
In cooking, not only the kernels of nuts are used, but also peanut butter, which is seasoned with fruit and vegetable salads and added to baked goods. And from young unripe fruits, enclosed in a green shell, they cook delicious jam.
Walnut Recipe Examples
Recipe 1: Veal Chops with Walnuts
A healthy and tasty dish is tender diet meat in a spicy nutty breading. Veal can be replaced with young beef. Mayonnaise, mustard and honey, included in the breading, serve as a link for viscosity and contribute to the original taste. If honey crystallizes, it needs to be warmed up a little, it will again become liquid.
Ingredients: 600g veal (tenderloin), 2 tables. lies. honey (liquid), 3 tablespoons mayonnaise, 1 teaspoon mustard, salt, half a glass of nuts, vegetable oil.
Cooking method
Grind the nuts into a rather small crumb - pass through a meat grinder, chop with a blender or crush with a rolling pin (like rolling out the dough).
Cut the meat in slices, beat, salt.
Mix honey, mayonnaise, nuts and mustard, coat pieces of meat and let them brew for about fifteen minutes.
Heat the butter, put the slices of meat and fry, like regular chops, on both sides until tender - ten to fifteen minutes.
Recipe 2: Walnut Cake Salad
Meat salads, which include walnuts, are becoming increasingly popular. And our salad is no exception. It is laid out in layers, and in shape is very similar to a cake. After trying it, guests will definitely ask for a recipe. This salad has several cooking options, but they do not differ significantly, because The main ingredients remain constant. Among connoisseurs, he is called the "Tale", and fully justifies it. Indeed, this is not just a salad - it is a fairy tale!
Ingredients: 400 g of chicken breasts, 1 cream cheese, 400 g of fresh mushrooms, 1 carrot and onion, 2 potatoes, 3 eggs, 3 large garlic cloves, half or a third of a glass of nuts (peeled walnuts), salt, mayonnaise, vegetable oil, black pepper.
Cooking method
First of all, boil breast, carrots and potatoes. In the meantime, they boil, do mushrooms. Cut the mushrooms not too large, fry in oil, waiting for the water to boil out of them. Transfer to a sieve or colander to glass the butter. Cool.
You can start assembling the salad. This should be done immediately on a round or square dish, laying out the layers alternately. Add a little bit to each layer:
- boiled meat. It must be cut into small cubes or torn into fibers by hand;
- chopped garlic;
- an abundant layer of mayonnaise;
- finely chopped onion, sprinkle with black pepper;
- coarsely grated potatoes;
- mayonnaise;
- fried mushrooms;
- mayonnaise;
- grate eggs (proteins and yolks together);
- mayonnaise;
- grate carrots coarsely;
- mayonnaise;
- grate cheese coarsely. Previously, it should be put in the freezer for a short time, so it will be easier to rub;
- an abundant layer of mayonnaise;
- sprinkle with chopped nuts.
The salad is ready, it remains only to cool and leave to soak for two to three hours.
Recipe 3: Pear Walnut Pie
Amazingly delicious cake. Moreover, the rating of "five plus" for the taste deserves not only the pears in caramel, but also the dough, which gives refinement almond flour from ground nuts.
Ingredients: 3 large pears, 150 g butter, 1.5 cups flour, 250 g sugar (half caramel and half dough), 4 eggs, ½ cup walnuts, a handful of almonds (50 g), ½ teaspoon each. baking powder of dough, salt and ground cardamom.
Cooking method
Pears can not be peeled, but the core must be cut, cut into slices. They should be caramelized, i.e. boil in melted sugar. Why pour 2/3 cups of granulated sugar into a hot frying pan when it starts to melt, lay pears on it and let them boil, periodically turning them in syrup so that they are saturated. When caramelized, make a small fire. Ideally, caramel should be liquid, but sometimes grains appear in it. This is not so scary, because when baking a pie, the pear will give juice, and they will dissolve.
While the pears are caramelized, make a dough. Grind the almonds into flour using a blender. Beat the remaining sugar with softened butter. Without stopping the whipping, add cardamom and baking powder, you can still a pinch of salt. Then add the eggs, introducing them one at a time, so that the previous one has time to soak into the dough. Then chopped almonds and flour in portions. Stir until smooth.
A little grease the form. Lay hot, straight from the pan, slices of pear. For beauty, they can be arranged in a circle, like the rays of the sun, or like the petals of a flower.
Add salt (1/2 tsp) to the remaining boiling caramel, and let it boil a little, it’s better to say boil. Do not be afraid that it will become salty. As expected to be caramel, it will remain sweet, but the flavor will pass from salt to it.
Put walnuts in the form on the pears. Just as it is, in large pieces, halves. It is not necessary to grind into flour, well, it can only be crushed with your hands a little, that is, pieces of nuts should be large. Top them with boiling caramel, then lay out the dough and smooth it. Bake for forty-forty-five minutes (180C). Let the cake cool slightly and turn over, covering the form with a large plate or dish.
Walnut - useful tips from experienced chefs
- In order to whip up a treat, you must fry a handful of walnuts in a dry pan, then mix with two tablespoons of honey.
- To quickly chop nuts into small crumbs with improvised means, you need to put them in a plastic bag, and the bag itself in a towel and roll it with a rolling pin, periodically shaking it.
