simply oven-toasted or fried for a few minutes, which transforms the chewy, pliable, bland, pale seeds into crisp, flavorful, browned morsels They can also be roasted in the microwave oven Since nuts are small and dry, frying is generally done at relatively low temperatures for relatively short times, 250– 350ºF/120–175ºC for a few minutes, with lower temperatures and longer times for large nuts (Brazil nuts, macadamias) Doneness should be judged by color and flavor, not texture; heat softens the tissue, which gets crisp as it cools Stop the cooking just short of the ideal doneness, since nuts continue to cook for some time after they’re taken from the heat Nuts are less brittle when they’re warm, so slicing them while warm can give cleaner pieces with fewer flakes and crumbs Commercially prepared nuts are often roasted, salted with special flake-shaped particles that have more of a surface to adhere to the nut, then coated with a layer of oil or a protein-emulsifier blend to help retain the salt Peanuts are salted in the shell by being soaked in brine under a vacuum, which pulls the air from inside the shell and forces the brine in Removing Skins Many preparations call for nut skins to be removed so that they don’t discolor the dish or add unwanted astringency Thin skins — those on peanuts and hazelnuts, for example — can often be made brittle enough to rub off by a brief toasting in the oven The thicker skins of almonds are toughened and loosened by a minute or two in boiling water Others can often be removed by immersing the nuts in hot water made alkaline with baking soda (3 Tb soda per quart/45 gm per liter), rubbing the softened skins off (alkalinity helps dissolve hemicellulose cement in the cell walls), then reimmersing the nuts in a dilute acid solution to neutralize the slight amount of absorbed alkaline liquid ... rubbing the softened skins off (alkalinity helps dissolve hemicellulose cement in the cell walls), then reimmersing the nuts in a dilute acid solution to neutralize the slight amount of absorbed alkaline liquid... oven The thicker skins of almonds are toughened and loosened by a minute or two in boiling water Others can often be removed by immersing the nuts in hot water made alkaline with baking soda (3 Tb soda per quart/45 gm... that they don’t discolor the dish or add unwanted astringency Thin skins — those on peanuts and hazelnuts, for example — can often be made brittle enough to rub off by a brief toasting in the