Tree Nuts from US+ Bear Paws, Gall Bladders from Russia

choi

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(1) William Neuman, Fostering China’s Taste for Nuts; Advertising; An
Export Bonanza for US Growers. New York Times, June 29, 2010.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/29/business/media/29nuts.html?scp=1&sq=walnut&st=cse

My comment:
(a) I thought pickled almond was a joke until I took a look at the gallery.
(b) Almond is native to Middle East, as far east to Indus River.
Wikipedia.
(c)
(i) walnut (n; etymology: Middle English walnot, from Old English wealhhnutu
, literally, foreign nut, from Wealh Welshman, foreigner + hnutu nut)
www.m-w.com

(ii) walnut
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walnut
("The best-known member of the genus is the Persian walnut (Juglans regia,
literally "royal walnut"), native from the Balkans in southeast Europe,
southwest & central Asia to the Himalaya and southwest China")

A world map with the caption "Walnut output in 2005" shows China is the
largest producer, followed by US.

(d) pecan
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pecan
(native to south-central North America, including part of Mexico; "Pecan" is
from an Algonquian word, meaning a nut requiring a stone to crack)
(e) Until I read this report, I did not know Chinese ate apricot kernels.

apricot

(The apricot was known in Armenia during ancient times, and has been
cultivated there for so long it is often thought to be native there. Its
scientific name Prunus armeniaca (Armenian plum) derives from that
assumption./However, the Vavilov center of origin locates the origin of the
apricot's domestication in the Chinese region, and other sources say the
apricot was first cultivated in India in about 3000 BC)

Please read section 2.4 "Kernels."

(2) Andrew E. Kramer, At Russia-China Border, Bear Paws Sell Best. New York
Times, June 30, 2010.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/30/world/asia/30animals.html?scp=1&sq=russia%20bear%20china&st=cse
(last paragraph: "A few years back, according to Roman A. Chikachov, a game
warden in Blagoveschensk, Russian hunters took to passing off the more
common wild boar gallbladders as bear gallbladders. Once they discovered
this ruse, the Chinese buyers, already suspicious, became far more cautious
in their dealings. The Russians, he said, are still scratching their heads
over how the Chinese were able to tell the two apart")

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