Nuts: Wintertime Snack of the Immortals

“Ren you san bao jing, qi, shen

You san zhong xianguo bu jing, qi shen de”

(人有三宝精气神, 有三种仙果是补精气神的)

People have three treasures: essence (jing), energy (qi), and spirit (shen). 

There are three kinds of xianguo “immortal nuts” that replenish jing, qi, and shen. 

Winter is the season for storage (cang 藏), storing jing (essence). Plants store much of their essence in nuts and seeds to prepare for spring. Nuts are ready to harvest in the fall, and we can take our cue from the squirrels outside scurrying around collecting and eating up nuts to fatten up and prepare for winter. 

Ancient Chinese named three nuts as the “three nuts of the immortals” (san zhong xianguo 三种仙果) for their ability to boost jing, qi, and shen–making them particularly good for neigong cultivators. Those three are:

Pine nuts (songzi 松子)

Pine nuts replenish jing 精. As they are found on high mountains, they are thought to absorb the yang qi 阳气 of heaven and earth, and are considered one of the best foods to consume in the winter season. Pine nuts have also long been associated with Daoist hermits cultivating in the mountains who partake in bigu (restricted diets or fasting for the purpose of cultivation) and learn to “subside on the resin and nuts of pines.” 

Walnuts (hetao 核桃)

When a food resembles a certain body part, Chinese health science usually would say that it is then good for that body part. This is certainly the case with walnuts which look like a brain and are said to be good for the brain. Walnuts are warming and support kidney Qi, and so they are also a great food in the winter. The thin lining running between the two walnut halves which is called fen xin mu 分心木 “walnut membrane,” and is particularly good for tonifying the kidneys and astringing jing (it is even used on its own to make tea, or in other recipes such as Li Xia Dan “Beginning of Summer Eggs”). 

Peanuts (huasheng 花生)

Here we are of course referring to shelled peanuts (huasheng mi 花生米), however it is important to keep and eat the flaky red skin that is surrounding the peanut kernels. Peanuts are called changshen guo 长生果 meaning “longevity nut,” and are considered good for the heart. Winter is the season corresponding to the water phase and kidney organ system, and so it is a time when the Qi of the heart is the weakest. It is good to supplement the heart in winter to maintain balance.