When I was a small child, we normally spent every Christmas at my aunt’s house. I remember she always had a large bowl of nuts in their shells, and a couple of nutcrackers. I can still picture my cousins and me, sitting on the floor cracking nuts, trying not to make the shells fly everywhere. When they did, we’d have to pick them out of the long-haired carpet. The goal was always to get the nuts out of their shells as whole as possible… it was a lot of effort but definitely worth it! Brazil nuts were the biggest challenge and I normally needed some help from an adult. Whenever I see nuts in their shells, I think of Christmas.
Types of nutcrackers
Nutcrackers come in a wide range of materials and styles. Some are more successful at cracking nuts than others!
Lever-type nutcrackers
A lever-type nutcracker is sometimes referred to as a “pair of nutcrackers”. Although these are normally made of metal, wooden ones also exist (my Mum has a beautiful hand-carved wooden nutcracker). In the past I bought a metal pair that had almost straight handles. This style seems to be in fashion nowadays. However, its straight handles unfortunately made cracking larger nuts very difficult, as the ends of the handles were too far apart to be able to hold the nutcracker in one hand. Using two hands to crack a nut is likely to result in nut fragments going everywhere! Therefore, especially if you have small hands, I’d recommend getting a nutcracker with noticeably curved handles.
Screw-type nutcrackers
Scew-type nutcrackers simply use the force of a twisting screw to crack nuts. Again, they come in many different materials, such as metal and wood. I have never used this type before, so have no comments on their effectiveness!
New design
There is a new design of nutcracker that is becoming increasingly popular. It has an almost cone-like compartment that you put the nut into. You then squeeze the handles as normal. The nutcracker is advertised as being able to crack all sizes of nuts and break the shells without shattering the nuts. I recently bought a nutcracker like this on a German Christmas market after a stall holder demonstrated how easy it was to use. Although I have so far only used it for walnuts, I think it’s great! Even large walnuts are easy to crack. I guess Brazil nuts will be the ultimate test! I see that there are several of this type of nutcracker available to buy on Amazon. Check out the products below for more information.
