Walnuts are most often eaten on their own as a snack but can also be added to salads, pastas, breakfast cereals, soups, and baked goods. They're also used to make walnut oil - an expensive culinary oil frequently used in salad dressings.

Nutritional Profile

One serving of walnuts is 1 ounce, or about 7 walnuts. A serving of walnuts has:

• 185 calories
• 2.5 grams of monounsaturated fat
• 1.7 grams of saturated fat
• 4.3 grams of protein
• 3.9 of carbohydrates
• 1.9 grams of fiber
• .7 grams of sugar

That small serving size packs a big nutritional benefit. Here are the vitamins and minerals you'll get in an ounce of walnuts:

• Up to 3% of your daily recommended amount of calcium
• Up to 10% of your daily iron
• Up to 5% of your daily potassium
• Up to 14% of your daily magnesium
• 7% of your daily folate

When to Avoid Walnuts

Walnuts may sound like a superfood, with their valuable vitamins and nutrients, but you should stay away from them in certain situations:

If you're allergic to nuts. Let's start with the obvious: If you have a tree nut allergy, walnuts are not for you. Symptoms of an allergic reaction can range from a simple itchy mouth (oral allergy syndrome) to severe, life-threatening conditions like anaphylactic shock.

If you're on a low-calorie diet. Walnuts can be up to 65% fat (even though it's mostly the good kind of fat) and are high in calories. One handful may have about 10% of the calories you need for a whole day.

How to Eat and Store Walnuts

You can eat walnuts on their own as a snack, or as a crunchy topping for yogurt, salad, stir-fries, veggie dishes, or ice cream.

For the biggest heart health benefits, go with unsalted walnuts, and choose ones that are raw or dry-roasted instead of cooked in oil.

It's important to store walnuts the right way. They're high in oil, and that can get rancid if they're exposed to warm temperatures for a period of time. That makes the walnut taste bitter. Store them (with or without their shells) in an airtight container in a cool, dry place. You can keep them in the refrigerator for up to 3 months or freeze them for up to a year.

Walnuts will absorb odors, so it's best to keep them away from strong-smelling foods. If your walnuts are rubbery or shriveled, that means they're spoiled, and you should throw them away.

Disclaimer: Even though every effort is made to ensure the image depicts the product accurately in color, size, and appearance, lighting and photography performance among other factors cannot guarantee you will receive the product as pictured.

Due to the sensitive nature of nuts, it is possible that some may be damaged or broken during transportation. In addition, we cannot guarantee that each pack contains 100% whole/unbroken products, but we make every effort to ensure our packaging is as secure and strong as possible. The nuts or other products may also be damaged or broken during transit from our manufacturers, so it is sometimes impossible to guarantee 100% whole contents without some broken pieces.