List of edible seeds

A list of edible seeds here includes seeds that are directly foodstuffs, rather than yielding derived products.

A variety of species can provide edible seeds. Of the six major plant parts, seeds are the most important source of human food. The other five major plant parts are roots, stems, leaves, flowers, and fruits. Most edible seeds are angiosperms, but a few are gymnosperms. The most important seed food source is cereals, followed by legumes, and nuts.

The list is divided into the following categories:
 * Beans (or Legumes) are protein-rich soft seeds.
 * Cereals (or grains) are grass-like crops that are harvested for their dry seeds. These seeds are often ground to make flour. Cereals provide almost half of all calories consumed in the world. Botanically, true cereals are members of the Poaceae or Grass family.
 * Pseudocereals are cereal crops that are not members of the Poaceae or Grass Family.
 * Nuts are botanically a specific type of fruit but the term is also applied to many edible seeds that are not botanically nuts.
 * Gymnosperms produce nut-like seeds but not flowers or fruits.

Beans
See also: Category:Edible legumes

Beans, also known as legumes or pulses include:


 * Bambara groundnut
 * Chickpeas
 * Cowpeas
 * Dry beans, including
 * Common bean
 * several species of Vigna
 * Fava or broad beans
 * Hyacinth bean
 * Lablab
 * Lentils
 * Lupins
 * Peas
 * Peanuts
 * Pigeon peas
 * Soybeans
 * Tonka beans
 * Velvet beans
 * Vetch
 * Winged beans
 * Yam beans

Cereals


True cereals are the seeds of certain species of grass. Three — maize, wheat and rice — account for about half of the calories consumed by people every year. Grains can be ground to make flour, used as the basis of bread, cake, noodles or other food products. They can also be boiled or steamed, either whole or ground, and eaten as is. Many cereals are present or past staple foods, provided a large fraction of the calories in the places that they are eaten. Cereals include:


 * Barley
 * Fonio
 * Kamut
 * Maize (corn)
 * Pearl Millet
 * Oats
 * Palmer's grass
 * Rice
 * Rye
 * Sorghum
 * Spelt
 * Teff
 * Triticale
 * Wheat
 * Wild rice

Pseudocereals

 * Breadnut
 * Buckwheat
 * Cattail
 * Chia
 * Cockscomb
 * Grain amaranth
 * Kañiwa
 * Pitseed Goosefoot
 * Quinoa
 * Wattleseed (also called acacia seed)

Nuts
See also: List of edible nuts



According to the botanical definition, nuts are a particular kind of seed. Walnuts and acorns are example of nuts, under this definition. In culinary terms, however, the term is used more broadly to include fruits that are not botanically qualified as nuts, but that have a similar appearance and culinary role. Examples of culinary nuts include almonds, peanuts and cashews.


 * Almond
 * Beech
 * Butternut
 * Brazil nut
 * Candlenut
 * Cashew
 * Chestnuts, including:
 * Chinese Chestnut
 * Malabar chestnut
 * Sweet Chestnut
 * Colocynth
 * Cucurbita ficifolia
 * Filbert
 * Hickory, including
 * Pecan
 * Shagbark Hickory
 * Indian Beech or Pongam Tree
 * Kola nut
 * Macadamia
 * Mamoncillo
 * Maya nut
 * Mongongo
 * Oak acorns
 * Ogbono nut
 * Paradise nut
 * Pili nut
 * Walnut

Nut-like gymnosperm seeds



 * Cycads
 * Ginkgo
 * Gnetum gnemon
 * Juniper
 * Monkey-puzzle
 * Pine nuts, including
 * Chilgoza Pine
 * Korean Pine
 * Stone Pine
 * Colorado Pinyon
 * Mexican Pinyon
 * Single-leaf Pinyon
 * Podocarps

Miscellaneous

 * Cempedak
 * Durian - seeds are not edible
 * Egusi
 * Fluted pumpkin
 * Hemp seed
 * Jackfruit
 * Lotus seed
 * Malabar gourd
 * Pistachio
 * Pumpkin seed
 * Sunflower seed