Nut Week: Week 46 of BigBarn’s Food & drink weeks

Packed with protein, fibre and essential fats, nuts are one of the best foods to put in your body, especially when snack time rolls around.

A golf ball-sized portion (about 30g) is enough to contribute a mix of valuable vitamins and minerals and are said to boost heart health.

Different nuts offer varying nutritional benefits, for example almonds are packed with Vitamin E, Brazil nuts boast selenium, while cashews are bursting with iron and zinc.

It is said that people who eat nuts as part of a heart-healthy diet can lower the low-density lipoprotein (LDL, or “bad”) cholesterol level in their blood. High LDL is one of the primary causes of heart disease. Eating nuts may also reduce your risk of developing blood clots that can cause a fatal heart attack. Nuts also appear to improve the health of the lining of your arteries.

BigBarn local food map with Crop for the Shop & Cheaper than Supermarket flags

If you have space in your garden plant a nut tree, Walnut, Almond, Hazelnut, Cobnut and Sweet Chestnut all have self fertile varieties and grow well in the UK.

To discover British producers using nuts in their products, or offering a range of delicious nutty snacks check out MarketPlace.

To find producers or retailers local to you visit our local food map or take any of your home grown nuts to sell at local shops marked with a rosette, part of our Crop for the Shop initiative.

If you have a favourite nut recipe then why not share it for a chance to win a prize? Please video your recipe and add it to KIS (Keep it Simple) Cookery. Please have a look at existing videos here and try and keep your video less than 2 minutes long.