lay in the diet has been greatly
increased and in the light of the new discoveries, it is interesting and
valuable to view the place that nuts hold.

As you are well aware, nuts have been used as foods by the peoples of
the world. In many places nut products have made up a very appreciable
part of the diet. Chestnut flour is extensively used in Southern Europe.
Among the peasants of Tuscany, chestnut flour forms a considerable part
of the total diet. In this region, also ground acorns are made into
bread with cereal flours and in this form is a common food. The hazel or
filbert nut is also seen in the form of flour on the shores of the Black
Sea. Races living in the tropics have utilized the many varieties of
nuts indigenous to tropical climes such as the coconut, Brazil nuts,
Java almond, Paradise nut, candle nut and African cream nut. In the
Orient, the lichi, ginko and water chestnut, and in Italy and India the
varieties of the pine nut are used to considerable extent.

In America, with the exception of a few localities and among a limited
class of people, nuts have never made up a staple part of our dietaries,
rather they have been used as tasty supplements to otherwise complete
menus. That they are prized as adjuncts and are sought after is
strikingly shown when we see in our markets not only the products of our
native American nut trees, the hickory, walnut, butternut, chestnut,
pecan, beechnut and pinion, but the Brazil nut, filbert, English walnut,
peanut, coconut, all of which are derived from foreign countries or from
trees originally imported to America from other lands.

Analysis of nuts have shown them to be of two types, one rich in fats
and protein, the nitrogen containing component of our foods and the
other relatively rich in carbohydrates, or starches. With the exception
of the chestnut, and the coconut, most of our more common nuts belong to
this first class, and chemists have pointed out that in these nuts we
have a concentration of protein and fat seen in no other class of
foodstuffs. For example, the protein-fat rich nuts have a percentage of
protein varying between 15 and 30% and a fat content of 50-70%; compare
this with other foods that we think of as being concentrated; eggs, 12%
protein and 10% fat; cheese 28% protein, 37% fat; round steak, 20%
protein, 14% fat; and bread, 10% protein. This nutritive concentration
in nuts places them in a unique position among our natural food
products. Our