Dried Fruits, A Brand New Perspective

Well, I copied the table from Types of Dry Fruits: 18 Different Varieties of Dry Fruits Name List. Guess what I searched in the Wikipedia and found an even more exhaustive list. So, naturally I am not pasting that table here.

We all know about the famous Pistachios, Almonds, Dates etc. And they are priced very steeply. Lately I was comparing nutritional value of our simple, sasta (cheap), sundar (pretty), tikau (durable) Peanuts with its pricier counterparts e.g. almonds, pista, walnuts etc. And check what I have found. 

Peanuts vs Walnuts

Image source for both pics are walnut-vs-peanut

Peanuts vs Almonds

Image Source: Peanut vs Almond

Peanut vs Pistachio

So, our peanut is not very far from being a super food and the best part is that it's cheap and widely available on streets. 

And there are really good, underrated but yet steeply priced dried fruits are there. Ex: Anjeer (Dried figs). 

Kishmish (Raisin) Vs Khajoor (Dates)

Both images are sourced from Raisin vs Dates

Now, dates have different varieties and so do the raisins. But one can easily get a 500 gm pack under 150. Now, dates have seeds and raisins usually don't. So, if we consider the weight of those date seeds then raisins will serve the nutritional purpose the way dates do. No? 

Cautions

• Since, a typical fruit has 80~90% water content. But a dried fruit has around 20% water percentage left in it. So, they might fit in our hand but their fresh counterparts might not. So, they can cause issues in body if taken profusely. Check this out Do You Know Consuming Excessive Dry Fruits Can Have Adverse Effects On Your Health?
• Dental cavities. Dried fruits like Anjeer, kishmish, dates have fructose in em. And most dry fruits are kinda very sticky in nature. So, clean your teeth properly. Even munching on peanuts can cause tooth decay. 
• If walnut is broken using teeth then teeth can chip off.
• Almonds are available in many forms ex California, Gurbandi, Mamra etc. But it has traces of hydrogen cyanide in it. Beware of bitter almonds. They can cause death. Apparently roasting, soaking etc can make em to safe to eat. That's why Californian almonds are pasteurized. That's good. But if they get disinfected with PPO then we will have a problem. PPO is a very toxic and potent carcinogen. Even processing of cashews involve high heat. So, if they are available in raw format then be very cautious.  
• Body can't process raw foods that efficiently. If nuts are taken in roasted format then it's easy for gut.