What Is The Difference Between Beans And Nuts?

on October 6, 2022

Nuts and beans are both popular foods that are eaten widely in a range of different countries around the world however you may be wondering what is the actual difference between nuts and beans they are both seed-like materials that come from pods so what is the actual distinction?

Beans and nuts are quite similar in that both have a seed that is encased in a pot however there are a few distinct differences between the two. firstly beans are A member of the legume family which also includes peas.

Beans typically have a kidney-shaped seed that is encapsulated in a pod with several seeds being in a single pod. The beans can be eaten as dried beans or the green pods can be eaten fresh. Whereas nuts are usually found as a single seed within a hard casing that in most cases does not open naturally by itself as bean pods do.

However, many things that are called nuts are actually seeds rather than nuts. An example of this is a peanut which as the name suggests referred to as a nut whereas in reality, it is actually a member of the legume family like the bean.

However, the general usage of the term nuts usually applies to any plant that has an Edible kernel encased in a relatively hard shell, and that is typically how most people from a culinary perspective will classify nuts.

However, botanically nuts are actually considered a fruit with a woody pericarp, which is another name for the ovary of the flower. Most nuts generally appear from the inferior ovary and they are sometimes wrapped in a specialized leaf that creates the shell.

Which Nuts Are Not Really A Nut?

As mentioned above there are many things that we commonly refer to as nuts that are not actually nuts so which ones are they? (apart from peanuts which we already mentioned above)

Almonds for example are actually referred to as drupe seeds which basically means that there is a soft fruit with a hard inner shell. Examples of these types of seeds can be seen in the prunus genus which has stone fruit of peaches and plums. The almond tree also strongly resembles many of the stone fruit trees.

Cashews are also considered drupe seeds that have an acidic outer shell which is known to be extremely problematic to the workers that handle cashew nuts during their harvesting and production of them. As a result of these problems, cashew nuts production is typically done in third-world countries.

Walnuts are yet another drupe seed that is contained within a green fruit that most commonly comes from English walnut trees. However, unlike many other nuts which only are concerned with getting the edible kernel out of their shell, there have been a number of commercial uses developed for walnut shells themselves which have included incorporation into cosmetic products and kitty litter.

Pine nuts are simply seeds that are removed from cones of pine species.

Brazil nuts are also simply seeds that come from hardened pods that typically weigh approximately 4 to 6 pounds and contains up to 20 seeds.

Macadamia nuts are an Australian plant that occurs in the subtropical regions and once again these nuts are drupe seeds.

Pistachios nuts are also drupes, however, these nuts have shells that automatically pop open once the seeds are ripe.

Pecan nuts are naturally occurring in Mexico and the US and are named because pecan is the Algonquian word for “nut that requires a stone to crack”. Botanists also refer to them as drupes, but because of their tough shells.

Coconuts are produced from green fruit which is relatively large and contains a single seed. Unlike other nuts mentioned in the list, coconuts have a distinctly different internal structure to other things that we classify as nuts. Coconuts have white flesh which is caked on the inside of a shell and is relatively fibrous along with a liquid inside the nut which needs to be cracked open to be exposed.

What Is The Difference Between A Bean and A Pea?

Beans and peas are both legumes from the same plant family and the main distinctive feature between the two of them is their shape. Most beans have a distinctive kidney-shaped seed whereas peas are rounded seeds with a pod.

In terms of flavor also peas are distinctly sweeter than beans when eaten fresh and both plants have culinary applications where they use both the dried seed and the immature pod in foods.