Nuts, seeds & oil-rich kernels

Every culture has elevated its seed. In Morocco, the Berbers of the Souss grind roasted almond with argan oil and honey to make amlou, the 'Berber Nutella'. India soaks and peels the almond (badam) before dawn, and rolls dates and almonds into ladoo. The Mediterranean presses pine nuts into pesto and sesame into tahini. The doctrine of signatures saw in the walnut, folded like a brain in its shell, a food of the mind — and science has since confirmed its richness in omega-3.

Beneath the word 'nut' hides an immense family of distinct geniuses. The almond (a Rosaceae, cousin of the peach) is the queen of minerals and vitamin E. The walnut is the richest in plant omega-3 — and its brain-like shape never stopped inspiring the ancients. The cashew — botanically a seed, never sold raw in its shell because its resin is caustic — becomes a silky cream once soaked. Macadamia is the fattest and softest, the Brazil nut the most generous in selenium (one or two cover a day's needs), the pecan a trove of antioxidants. Pumpkin seeds offer zinc, sunflower seeds vitamin E. The peanut is not a nut but a legume that ripens underground, and the coconut a drupe.

Their common point: all are seeds, and every seed protects itself. Phytates, enzyme inhibitors and tannins (concentrated in the almond's skin) guard the treasure until moisture comes. The gesture that changes everything is soaking — 'activation': a few hours in water, and the seed believes spring has arrived. It lowers its defences, its minerals are freed, the peeled almond becomes creamy and clear to digest. This is the Ayurvedic secret of the soaked-and-peeled badam.

The basic gesture: soak. Almonds, walnuts and cashews spend a few hours (4 to 8 h) in water, then we rinse them. The almonds then peel with a simple press — the tannin-rich skin comes away, and the mineral is freed.

My favourite combo plays on contrast: biting a dry almond (concentrated crunch, roasted taste) next to a soaked one (tender, water-laden, almost milky) — two states of the same fruit in the same mouthful. Soaked and blended with water, those same almonds become a plant milk we strain; ground longer, a silky butter. In the kitchen, I run the kernel from raw to cream: argan amlou, dates stuffed with cashew cream or cacao-sesame, date-and-almond ladoo. Raw for the full vitamin E, lightly toasted for the aroma — never burnt, which oxidises the oils.