crispy pili nuts

My mom just got back from the Philippines over the weekend and of course she brought back treats. Some of the treats are making the house smell funny and some of them are quite tasty. Sorry, but shrimp paste and dried fish just aren’t my thing. On the other hands, simple, nutty treats are totally my thing.

One of the treats she brought back were these bottles of Crispy Pili Nuts. The Pili Nut is native to the Philippines and is a tree that’s perfect for the kind of weather they have in the Philippines. According to Wikipedia, “Pili is a tropical tree preferring deep, fertile, well drained soil, warm temperatures, and well distributed rainfall. It can not tolerate the slightest frost or low temperature.” Sounds just like the Philippines to me!

The Pili Nut is apparently quite hard to find outside of the Philippines due to the fact that the shells of the Pili nuts are really hard to crack – so commercial plantations aren’t down with harvesting these nuts. It’s a shame, too, because these nuts are really delicious!

The ones my mom brought home are roasted and sugar coated, sort of like candied almonds. They’re very crispy and light and are similar to a macadamia nut and almond nut.

We’ve got 3 bottles of these nuts left – I wonder if I can concoct some kind of delicious dessert out of them, even if they’re already candied?



5 thoughts on “crispy pili nuts

  1. Oh, I bet a brittle would be good… I should try them with some ice cream! I don’t know if they have these in the Asian markets, either. I read that due to the high oil content (though apparently nutritious) they can spoil easily if they’re plain.

  2. hi mary – lucky you! pili nuts are so good!!!! i love the candied ones – kind of like pili nut brittle. they kind of have a buttery feel to them. i bought some plain ones at a filipino store – not so good. and you’re right, they spoil easily if they’re plain. i wasted a few bucks unfortunately.

  3. I’m going to have to check out the Asian markets around us and see if they have them. I’ve never looked for them before, so they could be there! We have 3 bottles left though. Gotta ration em out.

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