Why are walnuts so expensive? Walnuts are very expensive mainly due to high demand, but with little supply. Walnuts are also expensive, as they take years to mature, require intensive agriculture, grow in a specific environment, and have additional costs for processing. Nuts are expensive because of their difficulty growing and harvesting. Walnuts are expensive to buy, because they are expensive to produce.
Unlike cereals, legumes, and most vegetables, you have to plant the trees and let them grow for a few years before you get a harvest. So for a farmer, those are years when the land is in use, and the trees need water and care, but the farmer still doesn't get anything in return. Now the same goes for most fruits, but then we move on to the next expense, harvesting the nuts and processing them. Many walnuts grow inside a shell that needs to be removed, and many nuts are also sold without a shell.
And both add time and expense to nuts. Add that some nuts need very specific growing conditions and that some are especially problematic to harvest (cashew nuts, for example) and you can see why nuts tend to be a more expensive food. Like almond and pistachio trees, walnut trees require specific conditions. They are also grown mainly in California and are therefore affected by the ongoing drought.
I have heard that the type of pine nuts sold in stores is only growing in China & Russia & they are doubly expensive because they also have to be imported. In addition, you could save money by buying some walnuts in bulk and storing them tightly covered in the freezer. In short, it has to do with how difficult it is to grow those pecan trees and, in some cases, harvesting the nuts can be difficult. Nut products are taxed by both the distributor and the final consumer, increasing the amount needed to obtain a profit margin.
You can save on buying walnuts by buying in bulk and taking advantage of warehouse stores and their discounts. While transporting and selling nut products as snacks involves many risks, the potential for public health problems associated with nut products is much greater than with other foods. Walnuts are in more demand than they used to be, and the basic rules of supply and demand will tell you that the higher the demand, the higher the price. For this reason, people in the nut industry have to comply with strict regulations that revolve around sanitation and food safety.
Usually, walnuts are harvested from nut trees from December to February, when they are at their most ripe and ready to be processed and canned. The high nutritional content of walnuts contributes to the many health benefits of walnuts, including reducing inflammation and improving risk factors associated with heart disease. However, if you don't mind the nut mix, buying the gallon mix at Sam's Club can save you a lot of money and give you a lot of nuts that can last quite a long time. As manufacturers continue to find ways to add nuts to products to make them plant-based, you can be sure that people will continue to buy them.
I've heard stories about people who collect wild nuts in the forest & sell them to local grocery stores who buy them for pennies on the dollar, and then sell them at high prices. Wholesales and nut bars are often available at cheaper prices than individual nut packs, and these two options are your best bet for saving money when eating nuts. Merchants buy from growers or farmers right now to make sure they don't have too many nuts or don't have nuts, leaving them a lot of inventory that they must then sell. Perhaps the best aspect of buying in bulk is that you have a lot of nuts for all the uses you can have for them.
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