Frutos secos me están volviendo loca.

Question

Nuts are driving me nuts.

I consider all of the following to be nuts though some are technically seeds and peanuts are legumes if we really want to get picky. Are there other colloquial Spanish names for the following and, if so, from where? ¿Quién dice pacana en vez de pecana y alfóncigo en vez de pistacho? Se dice nogal en vez de nuez o sólo si se refiere al arbol?

• nuez = walnut (nogal = walnut tree)
• pacana, pecana = pecan
• almendra = almond (almendro = almond tree)
• anacardo = cashew
• alfóncigo, pistacho = pistachio (pistachero = pistachio tree)
• nuez del Brasil = Brazil nut
• avellana = hazelnut
• piñón = pine nut
• bellota = acorn
• castaña = chestnut (castaño = chestnut tree)
• cacahuete (español de España) maní (Andes, Carib, RP) cacahuate (MX, CAm) = peanut

When I first started learning Spanish I was told that "nut = nuez" though that does not appear to actually be the case. "Nut" seems to be "fruto seco" but this makes little sense to me because pasas y ciruelas son frutos secos pero no son "nuts". ¿Es cierto que no todos los "nuts" son "nueces" sino "fruto seco" y no todo "fruto seco" son "nuts"?

I hope that I'm making sense. I'm a bit tired. Thanks in advance. Gracias de antemano.

Appropriate that "nuts" are driving you nuts? - geofc, May 11, 2010

We call peanuts here mani and I just found out from you now that we are actually calling it by its Spanish name. Gracias! :) - Rikko, May 12, 2010

Answer 1

Look at this article, we distinguish between dried frutos secos (raisins) and frutos secos de casacara dura (nuts etc).

frutos secos

It's all in there. Took me a long while to reconcile this too, but indeed, in Spanish "nueces" only applies correctly to "walnuts". - Gekkosan, May 12, 2010

Great picture Heidi - ian-hill, May 12, 2010

Answer 2

Me too - I thought for ages that "nueces" were nuts - I even asked people what walnuts were called while holding some.

They said nueces - I said "I know they are nuts but what are these called?" and got blank looks. It drove me nuts too.

These look like dried fruits to me.

Well, birds of a feather...I notice nobody else seems to be concerned about this. Are we really the 3 nuts on this website? Oh, well, I think we'd have fun together, discussing vocab and grammar! - mountaingirl123, May 11, 2010

Why, whatever are you suggesting? I see no comment here that would compromise my honor!! :) - mountaingirl123, May 11, 2010

je je je - mountaingirl123, May 11, 2010

Answer 3

Well, Ian, I'm glad to hear that I'm not the only one who has had the walnut/nut conversation, complete with blank looks. And, yes, those look like dried fruits to me, too.

Answer 4

Muy interesante...En México no es cierto que "nueces" quiere decir "nuts" en inglés?

Well, now I'm going nuts! My Wordsworth Dictionary says "nueces" are walnuts and "frutos secos" are nuts.

AAUUGGHH!!!

aha...if you thought the same thing I don't feel too nuts :) - alba3, May 12, 2010

Answer 5

It appears, according to Heidita's link, that in Spanish there are two distinct groups of dried fruit: 1) Frutos secos de cáscara dura 2) Los provenientes de frutas desecadas

The second catagory is what we, in English, would refer to as dried fruit.

Everything in the list above would fall into the first catagory and in English most people (excluding botanists) would commonly refer to them as a "nuts".

However, it's still worth noting that not everything that is a "fruto seco de cáscara dura" is a "nut". The following seeds are not referred to as nuts in English.

Semillas de calabaza - pumpkin seeds

Semillas de girasol - sunflower seeds

Sésamo o ajonjolí. - sesame seeds

Thanks for all the input and I think that I understand this much better now. I am also glad to have gotten clarification that, in fact, "nuez" is "walnut".

So, if I've understood this correctly: La nuez es una tipa de fruto seco de cáscara dura. = The walnut is a type of nut.

Answer 6

In Argentina, cashews are castañas de caju'

Answer 7

So you have frutos secos de cáscara dura, which are actually nuts?

Why not just call them "nueces?"

Porque "nueces" son "walnuts". - Gekkosan, May 12, 2010