Pili—The Delicious, Healthy Nut You’ve Never Heard Of
Article written by CLAUDIA MCNEILLY https://lnkd.in/gmZ23Ks
A handful of nuts is an easy and healthy snack, but if you’re growing a bit tired of the same rotation of almonds, walnuts, cashews, and pistachios, enter the pili nut. Pili—pronounced “peeley”—is a distinctive, tear-shaped nut native to Southeast Asia and the Pacific islands. It’s here that roasted, fried, and sugared varieties of pili can be found for sale on nearly every street.
When consumed raw, pili nuts have a light flavor reminiscent of sunflower seeds. After roasting, they transform into decadent morsels with a chewy exterior that quickly yields into a melting, buttery texture evocative of plant-based foie gras. In Filipino cuisine, they are often added to cooking and baking in this roasted form, peppering dishes with a nuanced sweet bitter flavor and velvety texture.
But beyond being delicious, the nut is also a nutritional powerhouse, just edging out cashews and almonds for the highest magnesium content of any nut. A single ounce contains 86 milligrams of magnesium, or 20 percent of the recommended daily intake for adults. The 2016 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) revealed that 56 percent of Americans are magnesium-deficient. Low levels of the electrolyte, which is necessary for proper muscle and nerve function, has been linked to insomnia, heart-beat irregularities, hypertension, and muscle spasms and cramps. Multiple studies, including one published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, have found that magnesium deficiency can also accelerate the aging process as it aids cellular senescence, a change in cell state that occurs when cells cease to divide or renew.
In addition, a 2015 study published in the Journal of Ethnic Foods found pili nuts to be high in oleic and linoleic acid, the same short-chain metabolism-boosting fats that helped propel coconut oil to the forefront of superfood consciousness. They also contain high levels of vitamin E, eight essential amino acids, and are chock-full of manganese and copper—two minerals known to help reduce free radical DNA damage. As if that weren’t enough, pili nuts are a complete protein and, with only a single gram of carbohydrates per one-ounce serving, have the lowest carbohydrate count of any nut.
Despite this impressive list of benefits, pili has been notoriously difficult to find in North America. The Philippines is currently the only commercial exporter of pili nuts, but, until recently, it’s been prohibitively difficult to scale production and bring the nuts to the global market at large. The trees don’t begin to bear fruit until five to six years after planting, each pili nut has to be manually opened by hand to preserve its flavor, and the high oil content of the nut means that they spoil easily in the Philippines’s hot climate. Few have dared to improve pili supply chains, or to introduce the nut into the North American market.
Jason Thomas was among the first to bring pili nuts to the mainstream with his company Hunter Gatherer in 2015. “When I first brought pili nuts back from the Philippines years before I launched Hunter Gatherer, no one knew what they were. Most people still don’t know what they are,” Thomas explains. Hunter Gatherer pili nuts are foraged from the Filipino rain forest by hand and sprouted in unrefined coconut oil, which acts as a natural antibacterial preservative while maintaining the nutritional integrity of the nut. Today Hunter Gatherer pili nuts can be found in a selection of specialty stores including Mother’s Market in California and Hu Kitchen in New York.
This fall, Whole Foods will also begin stocking a line of creamy pili nut yogurts made by yogurt company Lavva. “What’s really exciting about pili yogurt is that it’s vegan, paleo, gluten-free, and probiotic,” says Elly Truesdell, global senior coordinator of local brands, product innovation, and development at Whole Foods Market. “As a buyer, you’re always enthusiastic about new products like pili yogurt because it’s offering something completely different and delicious while still appealing to modern nutritional sensibilities.”
The benefits of pili also extend to the land on which they grow. The growth of pili trees prevents soil erosion and restores watersheds, allowing rainwater to properly drain off forestland. While the trees may take years to bear fruit, they are highly resistant to strong winds, allowing them to flourish in harsh environments. Known as a “stress loving” tree due to its tendency to thrive under these less than ideal weather conditions, pili trees are notoriously low maintenance: Nutrient-dense volcanic soils provide ample amounts of natural fertilizer, and each tree requires nothing more than rainwater to sprout and grow.