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Nuts in cuisine are a much less restrictive category than nuts in botany, the term being applied to many seeds that are not true nuts in the botanical sense. Any large, oily kernel found within a shell and used in food may be regarded as a nut. Because nuts generally have a high oil content, they are a highly prized food and energy source.

Nuts of temperate climates are dominated by wind-pollinated trees of the Order Fagales:

• Acorn, the seed of the oak tree
• Beechnut
• Chestnut
• Hazelnut or filbert, the seed of the hazel and cob trees
• Hickory
• Walnut, which includes Persian walnut, Japanese walnut, black walnut, heartnut, and butternut

Some "nuts" that are not true nuts in a botanical sense:

• Almond; edible part is the seed of a drupe
• Brazil nuts are seeds from a capsule
• Cashews are seeds
• Coconut is a drupe
• Horse chestnut is a capsule
• Peanut, the fruit and seeds of a legume
• Pecan; edible part is the seed of a drupe
• Pine nut or piñon is the seed of a conifer

Seeds

• Sesame seeds
• Sunflower seeds
• Poppy seeds
• Pumpkin seeds
• Hemp Seeds
• Flax Seeds