Is coconut a nut?

[loggy01]

Is coconut a nut? I have two children with nut allergies and the school have coconut crunch biscuits on the menu?

[4getmenot]

I thought it was a fruit or a seed

[ChuckFickens]

it's a seed.

but then most of the things we refer to as nuts are not really nuts

[daniela31]

Beware of any biscuits, they could have traces of nut in them. most packets of biscuits have this warning, don't they?

[jno]

don't fret over categories - it isn't really a matter of whether it's a nut, but of whether your children are allergic to them. Could they try eating a small crumb of biscuit to find out?

[Clanad]

Unless offered tongue in cheek, jno... bad idea. We've relatives who have a child with a severe allergy to peanuts (which aren't nuts either) that nearly died after simply eating off a aplate that had been used to sort peanuts (unknown to the child). Some allergic reactions are minor, but, unless the child's parents know exactly the reaction severity, I wouldn't ask them to experiment...

[Doolallygirl]

Try to find out from packaging whether they contain traces of nuts. Most companies put this on packaging now even if nuts aren't in the product itself but if the factory is used to make a different type of food which does contain nut.

[loggy01]

I didnt know that peanut is not a nut. What is it then? My daughter and son are allergic to peanuts.

[Clanad]

Peanuts are legumes, with the seeds in pods like peas and beans but grow underground. The entire bush is pulled up to harvest them...

[loggy01]

Facinating ..... why is a tomato a fruit and not a vegetable?

[Lov3shy]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tomato

Look on Fruit or Vegetable? More than adequate info there

[jno]

fair point, Clanad, if the allergy is that serious I had supposed loggy wouldn't take my advice anyway. Allergy specialists can do tests to find out exactly what upsets you; but my real point was that 'nut allergy' isn't a very helpful definition (as you point out, about peanuts) and each food needs to be checked individually.

'Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit, not a vegetable. Wisdom is not using it in a fruit salad.'

[jack daniels]

a nut

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coconut

[merejeans]

Why is rhubarb a vegetable and not a fruit?

[DaisyMae]

Rhubarb is classified as a fruit in Chambers merely because it is used as a fruit. But fruits are usually the ripened ovaries of a plant containing the seed, rhubarb is just the edible stem of a plant, incidentally parts of which are hightly toxic.

[saxy_jag]

According to The QI Book of General Ignorance, "Peanuts, almonds, pistachios, Brazils, cashews, coconuts, horse chestnuts and pine nuts are not nuts. So the legendary health warning on a packet of peanuts ('may contain nuts') is, strictly speaking, untrue."

Allergies are funny things though, and I wouldn't like to say whether or not coconut is safe for your kids to eat (plus the biscuits in question could actually contain traces of real nuts). Suffice to say that the above book tells me that coconut water (you get the milk from boiling it down) is completely sterile, packed with vitamins and minerals and has the same balance of salts as human blood, therefore it makes an excellent hangover cure.

Not that your kids (hopefully) will need that information just yet.

[Jenga]

Don't take a chance. It was in the newspaper yesterday somebody with a nut allergy bought an Indian takeway after being assured there were not nuts in it and died.