Do you have a special event coming up soon? A colorful (and delicious!) candy buffet is a great addition to any wedding, birthday party or other special occasion.

Now it’s easier than ever to figure out how much candy you need for your event. We just launched a handy-dandy candy calculator that tells you exactly how much candy you need to fill a container for a candy buffet, centerpiece or favors. You can customize your order by the size and type of container you’re using and the candy varieties you would like to include. Pretty snazzy, huh?

We’re hosting a Candy Calculator 101 Google Hangout on Monday, June 24 at 10 a.m. PDT/ 1 p.m. EDT to walk you through how to use this new tool and share tips for putting together an unforgettable candy buffet for your summer celebration. Join us!

Give the candy calculator a try:

We’re proud when our products are featured in print and on the web. They’ve been highlighted in wedding magazines like Martha Stewart Weddings, health publications like Prevention, and even a feature film (see below). We encourage you to try these star products for yourself!

1. Organic Peanut Butter Stock
Featured in: Prevention

This year, we received one of Prevention’s Cleanest Packaged Food Awards for our organic peanut butter stock, which is perfect for making organic peanut butter! According to Prevention, “The products we chose met some pretty strict standards: they’re all GMO-free, have no more than 10 g of added sugar, contain no more than 200 mg of sodium (400 for a meal)…finally, they had to be absolutely delicious.”

2. Hibiscus Flowers and Almond Paste
Featured in: Love & Olive Oil

The husband and wife team behind this blog about culinary adventures at home used our hibiscus flowers in their recipes for Hibiscus Mango Sorbet and Hibiscus Flower Enchiladas. Hibiscus flowers also make a great hot or cold tea. Love & Olive Oil also featured our almond paste in their recipe for Chocolate-Glazed Almond Horns, which looks mouth-wateringly delicious!

3) Salted Roasted Cashews
Featured in: Some Girl(s) film

Our salted roasted cashews showed off their thespian chops in the opening scene of Some Girl(s), which premiered this spring at SXSW. Watch a clip from the film. Roasted cashews are great for snacking or using in salads!

4) Sixlets and Gumballs
Featured in: Hostess with the Mostess

Hostess with the Mostess, a blog on modern entertaining, featured our sixlets and gumballs in a post about a sprinkles themed birthday party for a 10-year-old girl. The party included a tasty-looking yogurt bar. Sixlets are also a popular candy to feature in wedding candy buffets because they come in many gorgeous colors!

5) Wasabi Peanuts
Featured in: Health magazine, May 2013 issue

Health magazine’s May print issue features our wasabi peanuts in a piece called “8 Nutty Snacks Under 80 Calories.” Not only are they low in calories, but they’re also high in flavor! The spice of the wasabi will make your mouth tingle. These snacks are great for parties, because people can’t get enough of them!

For more featured products, see our previous post, 6 Featured Products You’ll Love.

We’re always honored when publications and blogs feature our nutty products, and we thought you might like to hear about the items highlighted over the past few months. The best part is that you can try these featured products for yourself!

1. Gummy Red and Black Raspberries
Featured in: Brides magazine, Winter 2013 issue

Imported from Germany, these old time candy red and black gummy raspberries are delicious! They’re crunchy on the outside and chewy, sweet, and fruity on the inside. Use them to decorate a cake or fill a colorful candy bowl.

2. Lemon Chips
Featured in: Chocolate Moosey

Carla, the author of this baking blog, describes her Lemon Snowball Cookies like this: “Think melt-in-your-mouth lemon shortbread cookies coated with powdered sugar.” YUM! Here’s how Carla used our lemon chips to add flavor and texture:

The original recipe called for crushed lemon drops, but I used the chips instead. When the cookies are fresh from the oven, they are soft and melted. When they cool, however, they become crunchy.

3. Coffee-and-Cream Espresso Beans
Featured in: Martha Stewart Weddings online

We can’t tell you how excited we are that our candy was part of the dessert table at the September wedding of Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds! See the whole slideshow here. Try the coffee-and-cream espresso beans displayed at their Southern wedding, or pick your own candy colors!

4. Organic Bucket of Treats
Featured in: Greatist.com

Our Organic Bucket of Treats was one of 24 gifts featured in Greatist’s The Essential Holiday Gift Guide for Health Nuts. The editors made sure to note, “We weren’t paid or perked in any way for including these items. This is a list of gifts The Greatist Team picked out just because we like them.” Aw, shucks! Here’s what they said:

For all the favorite nuts in your life, order up a healthy bucket of organic treats. This gift includes granola, mixed nuts, trail mix, pistachios, figs, and even organic gummy bears. They even do all the wrapping for you!

5. Sixlets by Color
Featured in: Hostess with the Mostess

Our lime green sixlets filled a gorgeous candy jar on a holiday dessert table and cocoa bar. You can order your own sixlets by color! Here’s the concept behind this holiday display:

“All is Calm, All is Bright” from Silent Night inspired this serene Christmas Dessert Table & Cocoa Bar. Wanting to slow down the rush of the holiday season, Deanna of Mirabelle Creations, crafted a peaceful holiday party full of easy DIY elements like a coffee filter garland and homemade sweets including dainty flower topped sugar cookies.

6. Roasted Macadamia Nuts
Featured in: Martha Stewart Weddings, Fall 2012 issue

Our roasted macadamia nuts topped a cake in a feature on White Wedding Cakes. Here’s the mouth-wateringly good description:

Kick back and enjoy the sweet life with a spread of simple but beautiful cakes. Wendy Kromer used a petal-shaped mold to create these scalloped tiers, which are frosted in velvety buttercream laced with rum and topped with toasted macadamia nuts. Inside? Yellow cake layered with even more cream. Nearby bowls of roasted nuts are not only thematically on point; they also encourage snacking and admiring the mouthwatering confections up close.

Which Nuts.com product do you think should be featured next?

We’re excited to announce a brand-new section of our website: one that’s especially for Health Nuts! If you’re looking for foods that will help you manage your weight, boost your heart health, or maximize your nutrition, this is the place to start.

Here are four ways to make good use of the Health Nuts section:

1. Find links to our healthiest products, all in one place.

We’ve sorted our products into the following categories, so you can quickly find what you’re looking for:

• Superfoods, such as blueberries, quinoa, and maca powder
• All-Natural Products, such as  Simply Fruit Cocktail, raw almonds, and fruit leather
• Certified Organic Products, such as organic nuts, organic sweets (like organic gummy bears!) and organic dried fruit
• Raw Products, such as cashews, mushroom popcorn kernels, and Acai Blueberry Superfood Cereal

2. See at a glance which products have specific health benefits.

3. Locate answers to your health and nutrition FAQs from our Registered Dietitian Health Nut.

Our Registered Dietitian, Molly Morgan, has compiled answers to our customers’ most frequently asked questions. Here are a few questions you’ll find in the FAQs of the Health Nuts section of our website:

• How often should I incorporate whole grains into my diet?
• I’d like to lose some weight. What are some good snacks for mixing up my routine?
• Which nuts have the highest protein content?

4. Learn healthy eating habits for special diets.

Molly Morgan not only answers general questions about healthy eating, but she also addresses questions about special diets. Here are a few that you’ll find in the FAQs:

• What are good nut choices for diabetics and others watching their diets?
• How much protein do I need as a vegetarian who eats a plant-based whole food diet?
• What is the best way for someone on a gluten-free diet to get enough fiber?

Let us know in the comments what you think of our new Health Nuts section, and what else would be helpful to you!

Happy Fourth of July! There’s no better way to celebrate this special holiday than by supporting the troops. If you’re looking for a way to show our servicemen and servicewomen abroad that you appreciate their service, we can help. Through our Nuts for Our Troops program, Nuts.com has worked with our customers to ship thousands of care packages to those serving abroad.

If you already have a loved one serving overseas, ordering is easy! Simply choose the items that you want to send to them and enter their APO/FPO address during checkout. You can also send your loved one a Nuts for Our Troops care package by emailing us at CustomerService@Nuts.com immediately after placing your order.

If you don’t know a soldier personally but still want to help out, never fear! For the low price of $30 (which includes shipping), we’ll send a delicious snack pack to one of the servicemen or servicewomen listed on our online database of stationed troops. The 7 lb. snack pack contains delicious treats such as gummy bears, sunflower seeds, dried mango and Power Mix. It’s a wonderful way to show the troops you care!

One of the fantastic aspects of our Nuts for Our Troops program is that every military-related order we receive makes a difference. To make an even larger impact, we donate 10 percent of proceeds from all military-related orders back into our Nuts for Our Troops program. That’s a lot of care packages!

We’re proud of the troops here at Nuts.com, and we’re incredibly pleased that so many of our customers have joined us in supporting them. If you know someone who is serving abroad and might like to receive a care package, be sure to send their name and contact info to us at CustomerService@Nuts.com. We love to add names and addresses to our database so we can send as many packages as possible!

We hope you and your love ones have a safe, happy and healthy Fourth of July. If you’re a serviceman or servicewoman, thank you for your service! We appreciate it!

In 1929, my grandfather, Poppy Sol, started The Newark Nut Company in Newark, NJ.  My dad and uncle grew up in the business in the 1950s and 1960s, and my cousin David and I grew up in the business in the 1980s and 1990s.  We survived the Great Depression, Poppy Sol going off to WWII, our warehouse burning down, and our store being bulldozed twice.  Otherwise, it was business as usual!

Until 1999… .  The Internet was really taking off and, as I was sitting in my freshman dorm, I wondered if people would actually be willing to buy nuts online.  I figured it was worth a shot!  But what should I name the site?  NewarkNutCompany.com was just too long to type in.  I put together a list (including names like eNuts.com and NutsDirect.com), but unfortunately all of them were taken.  Hmmm… .  I used America Online back then, so I got the idea for Nuts Online.  Voila! NutsOnline.com was available.

We get a lot of questions about the best way to store our nuts, and rightfully so! Nuts can go stale or rancid fairly quickly, especially during the summer months when the heat and humidity can really get to them. Luckily, storing your nuts in a way that keeps them fresh and delicious is super simple!

First of all, no matter what kind of nuts you have on hand, it’s important to keep them in an airtight bag or container at all times. Our resealable NutsOnline product pouches do the trick, most of the time. However, if they get a tear or hole in them, it’s best to transfer the nuts to a glass or plastic container with a tightly fitting lid.

You can store roasted nuts and nuts in the shell in a cool, dry place, such as your kitchen pantry, for one to three months. Make sure you keep them tucked away when you’re not eating them! Sunlight can really speed up the spoiling process.

Both roasted and raw nuts can be stored in the refrigerator for up to six months. In fact, this is the storage method we recommend for our raw nuts. Because they have excess oils, they tend to spoil more quickly than their roasted and in-shell counterparts if they’re exposed to warm air.

Finally, if you want to keep your nuts on hand for longer than six months, you can freeze them for up to a year. Though they will lose some freshness, they will not go rancid in the freezer. To keep the nuts from growing stale or freezer burned, it’s best to store them in a vacuum-sealed bag and use them immediately after removing them from the freezer. Re-freezing nuts after thawing them decreases their freshness.

How do you store nuts to keep them fresh and delicious? Got any tricks or secrets? We’d love to hear all about them!

As you may know, NutsOnline is a huge supporter of the North American Bear Center in Ely, Minnesota. Through your amazingly generous contributions, we’ve shipped more than 2,700 pounds of nuts to this organization. The nuts in these care packages are used by the professionals at the center as treats for the resident bears, as well as for the radio-collared wild bears that the center monitors.

We received a very special letter via Facebook from a first-grade teacher at Andover Elementary School in Andover, Minnesota, that we’d love to share with all our nutty readers. Dana Coleman’s class has been learning about the black bears at the North American Bear Center throughout the year. At the end of the school year, the class donated $872 to the center. They earned the money by participating in a Read-a-Thon fundraiser throughout the year. From the donation, the children requested that $800 go toward nuts for the bears. The rest of the money will be used to purchase grapes for the animals.

We’d like to congratulate this wonderful bunch of first-graders on a successful year and a spectacular fundraiser! We’re so pleased that we have the privilege to join hands with you and send the bears some of their favorite nutty treats. We’re honored to be a part of this special project!

Looking for a quick snack to munch at your desk or in the car? We think sunflower seeds are a fine choice! Sunflower seeds are packed with healthful benefits, and a handful will quell your hunger without killing your appetite.

Sunflower seeds are loaded with vitamin E, which is your body’s primary fat-soluble antioxidant. They are also an excellent source of magnesium and selenium, and the phytosterols in the seeds have been shown to lower cholesterol in some cases.

We love to munch on roasted sunflower seeds in the shell and homestyle sunflower seeds when we’re out on a walk or at a picnic. We also really enjoy roasted, shelled sunflower seeds and honey roasted sunflower seeds when we’re on the go. Other popular options include organic tamari roasted sunflower seeds, sprouted sunflower seeds, ranch sunflower seeds and sweet chocolate covered sunflower seeds.

What are some of your favorite ways to eat sunflower seeds? Though we may find ourselves sprinkling them on salads and mixing them in ice cream from time-to-time, we think the best way to enjoy their yummy goodness is by the handful!

We know we have a lot of customers who prefer to eat their treats raw. Of course, we offer a solid variety of raw seeds, nuts and dried fruit that are deliciously easy to munch. However, if you crave something that’s just a bit more hearty, why not give raw granola a try?

Raw granola is similar to the crunchy, oat-laden cereal we all know and love, except that it’s made in a food dehydrator instead of baked in an oven. The result is a crisp, slightly sticky concoction that’s packed with the good stuff. If you’re having trouble feeling satisfied on your raw food diet, raw granola can be a great way to pack in some filling fare without straying from your plan.

Raw granola is typically made of two categories of products: binders and fillers. Binding ingredients are items that help the ingredients stick together. They include items like raw apples, juice, agave nectar, raw honey, soaked chia seeds and raw almond butter. Fillers include raw seeds, nuts and dried fruit.

Typically, you grind up your filler ingredients in a food processor (first soaking the nuts and seeds, if desired), then combine them with the binding ingredients, along with flavorings like cinnamon and vanilla. Spread the mixture in a lined food dehydrator tray and let it go for 24 to 48 hours, depending on the desired crispness. If you dehydrate the nuts and seeds beforehand, the finished product will require less time.

Just like baked granola, raw granola can be customized to suit your tastes. Experiment with different binding agents and fillers until you create a flavor sensation that’s just right. Not sure where to start? We recommend this awesome recipe from Gone Raw, as well as this wisdom-filled article from Suite 101. They’ll have you cooking up a batch of this munchtastic treat in no time!