I think that the reason walnuts are in grocery stores at all is that they are less strongly-flavored than peanuts (they can go into salads) but $3 per pound cheaper than almonds.
But I love walnuts for their own walnuttiness! They have a texture and a taste that are distinct from other nuts.
Pecans are chewier and sweeter than walnuts. I love them too but when I want a walnut I want a walnut (for example, in the salad I'm going to be having for lunch where the walnuts will go perfectly with the blue cheese).
That said, I love all nuts. I have not met a nut I do not love. See, also, vegetables.
I think walnuts have a nice bitter/sweet contrast. They really add a nutty sweetness to salads but the skin does have a bitterness to it.
LOVE OKRA! (especially pickled...YUM!)
You like okra?
I like it in Southern foods like gumbo.
What I don't like is: lima beans. Blech. Hate the texture. Also dislike garbanzo beans for similar reasons. (But eat hummus by the bucket. Garlic and lemon fixes everything.)
Peanuts are not nuts, so they may not ping the nut people. They're legumes.
Eh, taste and usage-wise, they're nuts. They won't ping a nut allergy (or vice versa), but in culinary terms peanuts are closer to pecans than to lima beans.
I love all nuts. I can't think of any that aren't delicious. I probably could not identify many by taste, but I would eat them happily. Even almonds, to which I am mildly allergic, are yummy until the fever kicks in. Possibly more yummy than the others, for they are the forbidden nut. Mmmm.
I read somewhere that pecans are supposed to relieve menstrual cramps, so I've been buying them more lately. I think I picked up a can last time I was at Target - there were lots.
Love lima beans! Especially fresh ones from the market. Lima beans and tomatoes were my favorite foods when I was a kid. (a weird kid, natch)
I'm mostly neutral to nuts but I roasted some pecans in the oven the other day-- they were remarkably good.
