- If you have ever rummaged through a grandparents’ kitchen drawer, you have probably found at least one odd-looking gadget that seems out of place today. One recent photo making the rounds online shows several slim metal instruments resting in a nut-shaped bowl. At first glance, they look like tiny weapons, which is exactly why people started guessing wildly about what they could be used for.
The real answer is much simpler and far more practical: these are nut picks (often part of a nutcracker set).
- A nutcracker (often shaped like pliers) used to crack hard shells.
- Nut picks (the slim metal tools) used to remove the nut meat cleanly after cracking.
After you break a walnut or pecan shell, you often still have small, stubborn pieces of nut stuck inside the shell’s tight crevices. That is where the pick comes in.
