Interesting facts about walnuts

Of all the nuts, walnuts are rightfully considered one of the most useful. They are so nutritious that a small amount is enough to provide all the energy an adult needs! Although, of course, the "nut diet" in any case would harm the body. But this delicious product is rightfully one of the most common ingredients in cooking.

• The walnut we all know is not directly related to Greece. His homeland is in Asia Minor and Central Asia, but no one knows for sure how its modern name came about.
• From the point of view of botany, walnut is not a nut at all, but a drupe fruit.
• In ancient Greece, these fruits were called "acorns of the gods." They got this name because of their medicinal properties.
• They are also called "a holiday for the brain" and "food for the mind", and the shape of the walnut kernel resembles a human brain. Therefore, in antiquity, it was believed that eating them helps to develop intelligence.
• In Ancient Babylon, walnuts were considered food for the nobility, but commoners were forbidden to eat them so that they would not suddenly grow wiser.
• Renaissance artists used walnut oil as a base to create oil paints. In one of the manuscripts of Leonardo da Vinci, there are recipes for such paints that the master prepared with his own hand
• The first nuts were brought to Russia by monks from Byzantium back in the XII-XIII centuries. Since they came from Greece, the name of the walnut stuck to them. At least, this is what one of the theories about the origin of this name says.
• Walnut wood is a valuable species. But these trees are extremely rarely cut because their fruits are much more valuable than the wood itself ( interesting facts about trees ).
• Due to their high magnesium content, walnuts have a soothing and mild hypnotic effect.
• Walnut kernels contain all the substances necessary for human life: 30-80% fat, 10-25% protein, and 5-20% carbohydrates.
• The protein they contain is equal to that of milk and meat but is much easier to digest due to its high lysine content.
• Unripe fruits of walnuts are used to prepare vitamin concentrates, and at home, they are used for making tasty and healthy jams.
• The maximum benefit from the nut will be obtained only with prolonged thorough chewing. Only from a completely pounded nut kernel will the body be able to get all the nutrients.

• In the Caucasus, the walnut is revered as a sacred tree. There you can find trees more than four centuries old
• Just 400 grams of walnuts will fully satisfy the daily food requirement for the average adult. But in general, it is undesirable to eat more than 100 grams per day.
• The inhabitants of Central Asia are sure that the walnut tree never blooms. There is even a saying on this subject: "The one who sees the nut flower will die." In fact, of course, this tree blooms like any other.
• High-quality activated carbon is prepared from burnt walnut shells. Although more often it is made from coconut shells ( interesting facts about coconuts ).
• The yield of walnuts from one healthy and mature tree can reach 250-300 kg annually.
• In total, there are 21 different types of walnuts in nature. But only one of them is widespread, and that is what we all eat from time to time.
• When the kernel is in the milky-waxy ripeness stage, one nut, weighing about 15 grams, contains almost 100 milligrams of vitamin C, which is double the daily requirement for an adult. But as it matures, the content of this vitamin decreases.
• Walnuts are athletes' best friends. They contain the amino acid arginine, which causes blood vessels to dilate, thus improving blood flow to the muscles. 
• They are also useful for the thyroid gland. Due to the high iodine content, regular consumption of these nuts will be an excellent prevention of various diseases.
• In 2013, the results of studies carried out by scientists from the National Academy of Sciences of Kyrgyzstan in conjunction with geneticists from the California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco were published. The study of the nut genome made it possible to establish that these trees have been growing on the slopes of the Fergana Valley for at least 47 million years. This region of the central Tien Shan is considered the birthplace of walnut trees.
• In the south of Kyrgyzstan, the world's largest mountain relict forest of 30-meter walnut trees has been preserved. They grow on the slopes of the Fergana ridge, climbing to a height of 2000 meters, and are adjacent to almond and pear trees, cherry plum, cherry, pistachio thickets. The forest stretches over 130 thousand hectares, walnuts occupy more than 40 thousand hectares in it ).
• It is undesirable to buy already peeled walnuts. After opening the shell, they lose a significant proportion of their useful properties in a short time.