Snack Time {Recipe: Whiskey Honey Toasted Walnuts} (2024)

FAQs

What does toasting do to walnuts? ›

Toasting nuts brings out their earthiness and minimizes any bitterness found in raw nuts. In just a few minutes, nuts will go from pale, somewhat waxy, and mild in flavor and smell, to golden brown, rich-tasting, and with an intensity and delicious aroma that adds a whole new level of flavor to any dish.

Dried Fruits and Nuts. Nuts and fruits are always a great snack. But be careful with the types of nuts you are serving. More bitter nuts, like walnuts or brazil nuts, go well with sweeter whiskies.

A: Walnuts don't always come in a perfectly standard size. We found on the California Walnuts website, walnuts.org, that ¼ cup of walnuts is approximately 1 ounce. That amounts to between 12 and 14 halves. If you buy walnut pieces, as we often do, the quarter-cup measure might be the easiest.

Adding them to your smoothies, salads, shakes, chutneys, breakfast cereal, desserts, dalia is also a good idea. "The best time to eat walnuts in summers is in the morning. You can soak 6 to 8 halves of walnuts at night and consume them on an empty stomach. You can also add them to your smoothies or make walnut chutney.

Whether raw or roasted, nuts still pack a healthy punch, loaded with good fats, protein, and antioxidants.

Walnuts are a great source of alpha-linolenic acid (ALA), an omega-3 fatty acid that is important for reducing inflammation. In fact, it is the only nut significantly high in these omega-3 fatty acids. Their anti-inflammatory compounds may reduce the risk of heart disease.

Avoid foods that are strong in garlic or overly spicy as these will kill the flavour of any whisky. Spirits with strong flavours often match well with stronger foods and lighter spirits with foods with a lighter flavour profile, but you want the elements to complement each other rather than being too matchy-matchy.

With such a subtle profile that blends well with the balanced earthy flavor of walnuts, try a vodka based beverage. It's often used with walnuts and peppery spices to mix up a stout nocino liqueur.

Eating walnuts may help support sperm health and male fertility. In a 2012 study involving 117 healthy young men, participants who ate 2.5 oz (75 g) of walnuts per day for 3 months as part of a Western-style diet had improved sperm shape, vitality and motility compared to those who did not eat nuts.

How many walnuts is a good snack? ›

A serving of walnuts is roughly 1 ounce, or about ¼ cup. However, some studies suggest eating 1.5 to 2 ounces may be beneficial to reap the health benefits walnuts offer. With this in mind, and considering walnuts are calorically dense, Kalloo recommends aiming for a handful daily to reap their many health benefits.

Most nuts appear to be generally healthy. But some may have more heart-healthy nutrients than others. For example, walnuts contain high amounts of omega-3 fatty acids. Almonds, macadamia nuts, hazelnuts and pecans also appear to be quite heart healthy.

More than half of Americans snack daily, and snacking is actually the most popular way to eat walnuts. Simply grabbing a handful, raw or toasted, makes for a smart snacking choice.

You can drink water after that but keep a gap of 10 minutes at least. This is because if you drink a glass of water immediately after, it won't let the stomach acids act upon the nuts and therefore extract the nutrients it provides. So it is advisable that you keep a gap of 10 minutes before drinking water.

Health Benefits of Walnuts

They also supply many antioxidants, such as polyphenols, which improve gut health and reduce risk of chronic disease. While you could eat walnuts any time of the day, bedtime is a great time to eat walnuts because they have numerous compounds that are tied to healthy sleep patterns.

Nuts are generally roasted to improve their taste, aroma and crunchy texture (5). Roasting is defined as cooking using dry heat, which cooks the food evenly on all sides.

Heat used during roasting nuts can slightly reduce their levels of antioxidants and vitamins. Roasting may also damage some of their healthy fats. Further, if stored improperly in heat or exposed to sun for too long, these fats can get rancid which will give the nuts an unpleasant taste and smell.

Many baking recipes call for nuts. But the really smart ones call for toasted nuts. To say browning brings out the flavor in nuts is a decided understatement: A bit of heat applied for a small amount of time “blooms” raw nuts, releasing their aromatic volatile oils and “caramelizing” their surface.

Walnuts really benefit from toasting—they become buttery, sweet, and lose some bitterness. Here are two ways to toast walnuts. Katie is a culinary dietitian with a master's degree in clinical nutrition. She has 25 years of experience as a recipe developer, writer, and teacher.