Why I Refrigerate Nuts + Seeds (2024)

FAQs

Should you refrigerate nuts and seeds? ›

Light, heat, humidity and excess moisture cause nuts to spoil faster. Store nuts and seeds at room temperature for 3 months, fridge for 6 months and freezer for a year. Label containers with the date of purchase to keep track of which to consume first.

Nuts' fragile unsaturated fats can go rancid quickly. While that may not hurt your health, it can definitely be bad news for flavor. Keep nuts tasting fresh by stowing them in a sealed plastic or glass container in the refrigerator for four to six months.

The Best Way to Store Nuts

The refrigerator, yes, but specifically, LaMarita recommends refrigerating nuts in air-tight glass jars. Store any extra nuts in the freezer in the bags they came in, he says. (If you don't have the original bags, consider using a freezer-safe air-tight container instead.)

Spoilage is accelerated even more in the presence of light, oxygen, and heat. Storing nuts (and seeds) in the fridge or freezer limits their exposure to all three of these, and will result in your nuts tasting less bitter and more flavorful for a longer period of time.

The trick is to keep them dry and cold, and dry is more important than cold. Seeds have little living plants inside, and a small amount of stored food. When they're warm and moist seeds get excited and ready to sprout, so they eat up their food quickly.

Freezing is a great way to store seeds for the long haul. If you're planning on sowing them within a few years, it's probably not going to make a huge difference, though it couldn't hurt. Just be sure: Only freeze seeds that are completely dry.

Nuts with higher fat content, like walnuts and pecans can also go rancid after a few months if stored at too warm a temperature. If you notice that your nuts have taken on a noticeably bitter, sour flavor, they may have entered this unfortunate phase.

The shelf life is 12-14 months sealed. Once opened, we recommend using the butters within 3 months. Do I need to refrigerate your products? While it's not necessary to refrigerate our products, we recommend doing so to keep the naturally occurring oils from separating.

The Right Way to Store Almonds

Almonds should be stored in an airtight container and it's best to store them in the refrigerator or freezer. Almonds are not recommended to be stored at room temperature for periods of time, so your pantry is not a good idea.

If you are likely to use cashews soon, then it's okay to keep them at room temperature. However, if you have got cashew nuts in bulk and are not planning to use them any time soon, then storing them in an air-tight container and keeping them in the fridge will be a good option.

Should walnuts be refrigerated? ›

Answer. Most shoppers are not aware that it is important to store walnuts in the refrigerator or freezer to maintain freshness, instead of the pantry. Proper storage is important to protect the essential plant-based omega-3 alpha-linolenic acid (ALA) in walnuts.

A refrigerator is the best place to store pistachios if you don't plan to eat them all right away. Package them in an airtight container (Ziplock, Tupperware, jar with tight lid) and they will stay fresh for up to a year. An airtight package helps prevent condensation, which would make them lose their crunch.

All nuts (except for coconuts) are suspect for mold: Brazil nuts, pistachios, pine nuts, walnuts, pecans, hazelnuts, and cashews are some of the worst offenders, even though they're some of the healthiest fats for weight loss.

Nuts that have a large surface area, like walnut halves, with their complex network of ridges and valleys, will go rancid faster because of a greater exposure to oxygen. And fattier nuts, like macadamia or Brazil nuts, will oxidize quicker than leaner almonds.

Shelf life of raw nuts

Depending on the type, they can range from six to nine months when stored in a pantry or other dry place. However, some types, such as pine nuts, have a shorter shelf life of approximately two months. On the other hand, almonds can last the longest, approximately nine to twelve months.

Keep seeds out of direct sunlight in a cool spot that maintains a fairly consistent temperature. Consider a cold closet, a basem*nt, or a room on the north side of your home that remains cool year round. Freezing isn't necessary for short-term storage, but you can refrigerate seeds, provided they are sufficiently dry.

Seed germination requires a suitable warm temperature. Both very low and very high temperatures are unsuitable for germination. The temperature inside a refrigerator varies between 5∘C to 20∘C and this is certainly very low temperature. Therefore the seeds kept in refrigerator do not germinate.