Going Nuts For Artisan Nuts
An artisan nut company, Jewels Under the Kilt, sent me several boxes of roasted and flavored pecans, almonds, walnuts and hazelnuts to try.
And they were really good — rather addictive, in fact. They have a crisp coating of real maple syrup, layered with other interesting flavors like chipotle, orange vanilla, apple pie, pear ginger, and Ceylon cinnamon.
They come from a Canadian farm. The official Jewels Under the Kilt website says if you order three boxes of nuts, shipping is free. But I’m not sure if that applies to American shipments. They are also available on Amazon.Ca, which caters to the Canadian market. I searched for the brand on my USA Amazon website, and all I could find is a steamy-looking novel called “Under the Kilt.” (You’ve been duly warned.)
The nut farmer and roaster is Elizabeth Burrows. In 2010, she and her partner moved to a farm near Fergus, Ontario. The town has Scottish roots dating back to 1833, and hosts an annual Scottish Festival. Which probably has something to do with the company’s unusual name.
Burrows and her partner planted 150 nut and fruit trees on their farm, and she research nut-roasting. She created a patent process for roasting nuts using the local dark maple syrup for natural flavoring, so they are free from artificial flavors or sweeteners.
I wondered why these nuts tasted so different from nuts I usually buy, and realized I wasn’t tasting any salt. When I checked the ingredient list on the samples I received, it was simply nuts, maple syrup, and the flavoring spices. No added salt, and the Nutrition Facts listed zero sodium. The company website lists some salted nut products as well, but if you’re on a low-sodium diet, it’s great to have unsalted options.
An ounce of these nuts (about 11 walnuts or 16 almonds) have only 4-5 grams of sugar (which comes from the maple syrup), which is relatively low for a sweet snack.
As with all nuts, the fat content is high —16 grams per ounce of pecans, 11 grams per the orange-vanilla cream almonds. But most of it is unsaturated fat, and nutrition experts say walnuts and pecans are high in antioxidants and other nutrients. So these are a relatively good-for-you snack, compared to a handful of chips or cookies.
Burrows calls her nuts “a totally unique, Canadian experience.” “I take my nut-making very seriously so that each and every customer falls in love with my recipes as much as I do in the making process.”
The maple-syrup coating gives them a hint of sweetness, while not overpowering the actual nut flavor. From the samples I tried, it seems the goal was to offer subtle flavors that let the nuts do the talking.
The Ceylon cinnamon walnuts were a great combination of maple and spice.
The chipotle flavored pecans had pleasant sweet heat instead of mouth-numbing fire.
The orange vanilla crème almonds made me think of dipping the almonds in an orange Creamsicle.
As with most artisan products, these nuts are not bargain-basement priced. According to Amazon.Ca, a 4-ounce box is $10. So it’s probably something you’d get as a nice gift for someone, or a little indulgent treat for yourself.