Upgrade your bar snacks with these 7 makers who are going nuts….

Garlic Green Chile Pistachios // Eagle Ranch // Alamogordo, NM

New Mexico’s oldest and largest orchards turn days of desert sun into nature’s perfect packable protein snack — the ever-nutritious pistachio. Ditch the cocoa-covered peanuts and over-salted almonds, and stuff your saddlebag with these, flavored — of course — with the state’s famous chile. Just be sure to pick up your shells, lest a hungry trail bum raid your private stash.

Maple Sugar & Sea Salt Pumpkin Seeds // SuperSeedz // North Haven, CT

Sunflower-snacking pros spend more time spitting shells and picking teeth than eating — you can cut to the chase with these husk-less wonders. Dry roasted in small batches with tons of natural seasoning — never sprayed — they’re packed with iron, zinc, and protein, each handful shrapnel-free satisfaction, no tooth brush needed.

Sriracha Nuts // Sugar Plum // Forty Fort , PA

The humble peanut gets upstaged by chicer seeds like walnuts and filberts and, unshelled and unadorned, it’s not hard to see why. But doll ’em up a bit — and we don’t mean with a top hat and cane, Planter’s man — and the nut will draw a crowd. Cooked in Sriracha and vanilla, these are sweet enough to satisfy, spicy enough to keep you sipping: a communal snack bowl you’ll horde yourself.

Macadamia Nut Crusted Fish Sandwich Recipe Here

Black Peppah Macadamia Nuts // Hamakua Macadamia Nut Company // Waimea, HI

Hawaii’s first macadamia tree was planted two centuries ago, and — legend has it — it’s still growing, somewhere on the verdant coast for which this company’s named. The island’s mac nut trade is still just as old-school: small producers, private farms, local families. Tradition you can taste (even when dusted in cracked pepper and sea salt). Savor them solo or grind up a handful with lemon and olive oil for a luau-ready crust on baked snapper.

Chipotle Lime Peanuts // Bees Knees Food Co. // Chicago, IL

Appetizers are more than just a way to quell anticipatory grumbles as your guests await the spread to come — they’re your first impression, and stale party mix is like a limp handshake. Upgrade the bar snack with a pop of lime, kick of cayenne, and the building burn of chipotle, to keep the cooling cocktails flowing.

Fiddyment Farms // Chili Lime Pistachios // Lincoln , CA

Recently turning 90 years young, David Fiddyment has definitely shelled a pistachio or two in his day and is not the gent you want to find yourself in a thumb war with. But you are going to want to get your hand on a cerveza and start chasing swigs with these zesty gems. A popular Oaxacan bar snack (traditionally roasted in pork fat) lime and chile flavored nuts can also be bartered off vendors throughout Mexico. We’d like to cheers this pistachio pioneer on 30 siesta-less years of growing, roasting and packing premium pistachios on his family farm in the heart of California.

Pearson Farms // Georgia Pecans // Crawford, GA

Can a lazy day watching March Madness actually be approved upon? Well, sub in a couple pints & pecans for that guy complaining the #11 seed screwed his bracket and there’s a shot. Pearson Farm Pecans get shelled out everywhere from michelin star joints like Per Se in Manhattan to man caves across the Empire State South. Crack em’ like a local: squeeze two together in the palm of your hands and chase with a frosty brew and college sports.

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