Editing Nutcracker

{{Short description|Mechanical device for cracking nuts}}
{{other uses}}
[[File:Benutzung eines Nussknackers.gif|thumb|Using a nutcracker]]
A '''nutcracker''' is a tool designed to open [[nut (food)|nuts]] by cracking their shells. There are many designs, including levers, screws, and ratchets. The lever version is also used for cracking [[lobster as food|lobster]] and [[crab as food|crab]] shells.

A decorative version, a [[nutcracker doll]], portrays a person whose mouth forms the jaws of the nutcracker.

==Functions==
Nuts were historically opened using a hammer and anvil, often made of stone.<ref name=book/> Some nuts such as walnuts can also be opened by hand, by holding the nut in the palm of the hand and applying pressure with the other palm or thumb, or using another nut.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.popsugar.com/food/How-Crack-Nuts-Without-Nutcracker-26338627|title=Holiday Hack: How to Crack Open Nuts With Your Bare Hands|work=PopSugar|last=Perry|first=Nicole|date=December 7, 2015|access-date=January 10, 2016}}</ref>

Manufacturers produce modern functional nutcrackers usually somewhat resembling pliers, but with the pivot point at the end beyond the nut, rather than in the middle. These are also used for cracking the shells of crab and lobster to make the meat inside available for eating. Hinged lever nutcrackers, often called a "pair of nutcrackers", may date back to [[Ancient Greece]].<ref name=book>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZhxRMPg4Y4gC&pg=PA5|title=Nutcrackers|first=Robert|last=Mills|publisher=Shire Books|isbn=9780747805236|date=2001|access-date=January 10, 2016}}</ref> By the 14th century in Europe, nutcrackers were documented in England, including in the ''[[Canterbury Tales]]'', and in France.<ref name=book/> The lever design may derive from blacksmiths' pincers. Materials included metals such as silver, cast-iron and bronze,<ref name=slate>{{cite web|url=http://www.slate.com/articles/life/holidays/2010/12/in_a_nutshell.html|title=In a Nutshell: A Brief History of Nutcrackers|first=Noreen|last=Malone|work=Slate|date=December 2012|access-date=January 10, 2016}}</ref> and wood including [[boxwood]], especially those from France and Italy.<ref name=book/> More rarely, porcelain was used.<ref name=slate/> Many of the wooden carved nutcrackers were in the form of people and animals.<ref name=book/>
[[File:Nutcracker ÖAM.jpg|thumb|A screw nutcracker]]
During the Victorian era, fruit and nuts were presented at dinner and ornate and often silver-plated nutcrackers were produced to accompany them on the dinner table.<ref name=book/> Nuts have long been a popular choice for desserts, particularly throughout Europe. The nutcrackers were placed on dining tables to serve as a fun and entertaining center of conversation while diners awaited their final course. At one time, nutcrackers were actually made of metals such as brass, and it was not until the 1800s in Germany that the popularity of wooden ones began to spread.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.oktoberfesthaus.com/blogs/okt/39280705-the-history-of-nutcrackers|title=History Of Nutcrackers|work=Oktoberfest Haus|date=September 5, 2014 |access-date=March 27, 2017}}</ref>

The late 19th century saw two shifts in nutcracker production: the rise in figurative and decorative designs, particularly from the Alps where they were sold as souvenirs, and a switch to industrial manufacture, including availability in mail-order catalogues, rather than artisan production.<ref name=book/> After the 1960s, the availability of pre-shelled nuts led to a decline in ownership of nutcrackers and a fall in the tradition of nuts being put in children's [[Christmas stockings]].<ref name=book/>

===Alternative designs===
[[File:Macadamia cracking tool.jpg|thumb|Modern screw nutcracker designed specifically for macadamia nuts]]

In the 17th century, screw nutcrackers were introduced that applied more gradual pressure to the shell, some like a vise.<ref name=book/>  The spring-jointed nutcracker was patented by [[Henry Quackenbush]] in 1913.<ref name="Nutcracker history">{{cite web|title= Nutcracker history - invention of the nutcrackers | url=http://www.ideafinder.com/history/inventions/nutcracker.htm|publisher=ideafinder.com|access-date=20 June 2012}}</ref> A [[Ratchet (device)|ratchet]] design, similar to a car jack, that gradually increases pressure on the shell to avoid damaging the kernel inside is used by the Crackerjack, patented in 1947 by Cuthbert Leslie Rimes of Morley, Leeds and exhibited at the [[Festival of Britain]].<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/tried-tested-taking-a-crack-at-it-we-sample-seven-nutcrackers-the-hard-shell-won-when-it-came-to-the-1392361.html|title=TRIED & TESTED / Taking a crack at it: We sample seven nutcrackers. The hard shell won when it came to the crunch|last=Yarrow|first=Stella|work=The Independent|date=February 6, 1994|access-date=December 31, 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://openingceremony.festivalofbritain.woodhousemoor.com/morleys-nutcrackers/|title=Morley's Nutcrackers|date=June 22, 1951|work=Morley Advertiser|access-date=December 31, 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://worldwide.espacenet.com/publicationDetails/biblio?CC=GB&NR=592232|title=Improvements in or relating to nut-crackers GB592232 (A)|work=Espacenet|date=September 9, 1947|access-date=December 31, 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://ehive.com/account/3894/object/73525| title=Crackerjack nutcrackers; C.L. Rimes Limited, Leeds, UK; 1969; T92|work=City of Belmont Museum|publisher=Ehive|access-date=December 31, 2015}}</ref> Unshelled nuts are still popular in China, where a key device is inserted into the crack in walnuts, pecans, and macadamias and twisted to open the shell.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-10-24/cracking-nuts-in-china/5834734|title=Is China's love for our native nut a production threat or marketing opportunity for Australian macadamia growers?|work=ABC Rural|first=Kim|last=Honan|date=October 24, 2014|access-date=January 10, 2016}}</ref>

Screw nutcrackers are still commonly used to crack [[macadamia]] nuts,<ref name="am">{{cite web | url=https://www.australian-macadamias.org/grow/how-to-crack-a-macadamia-nut/ | title=How to crack a macadamia nut }}</ref> since their shell is too hard to be cracked with an ordinary nutcracker.<ref name="shellingmachine">{{cite web | url=https://www.shellingmachine.com/application/south-africa-macadamia-nuts-processing-industry.html | title=Macadamia Nuts Processing Industry in South Africa | date=25 June 2019 }}</ref>

==For crustaceans==
A '''crab cracker''' (also known as a '''lobster cracker''' or '''crab claw cracker''') is a specialized [[food utensil]], similar in construction (and sometimes appearance) to certain types of nutcrackers, used to crack the [[Exoskeleton|hard shells]] of crabs and lobsters by pulling the two handles together to access the flesh inside, while preparing or eating them.

==Decorative==
{{See also|Nutcracker doll}}
[[File:Nutcrackers.jpg|left|thumbnail|A variety of figure nutcrackers]]
Nutcrackers in the form of [[wood carving]]s of a soldier, knight, king, or other profession have existed since at least the 15th century. Figurative nutcrackers are a good luck symbol in Germany, and a folktale recounts that a puppet-maker won a nutcracking challenge by creating a doll with a mouth for a lever to crack the nuts.<ref name=slate/> These nutcrackers portray a person with a large mouth which the operator opens by lifting a lever in the back of the figurine. Originally one could insert a nut in the big-toothed mouth, press down and thereby crack the nut. Modern nutcrackers in this style serve mostly for decoration, mainly at [[Christmas]] time, a season of which they have long been a traditional symbol.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://lilburn.patch.com/articles/the-nutcracker-a-timeless-symbol-of-christmas|title=The Nutcracker: A Timeless Symbol of Christmas|author=Gabilondo, Pat|date=December 23, 2011|publisher=Lilburn-MountainParkPatch|access-date=December 10, 2012}}</ref> [[Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky]]'s ballet ''[[The Nutcracker]]'', based on a story by [[E. T. A. Hoffmann]], derives its name from this festive holiday decoration.

The carving of nutcrackers&mdash;as well as of religious figures and of [[Nativity scene|crib]]s&mdash;developed as a [[cottage industry]] in forested rural areas of Germany. The most famous nutcracker carvings come from [[Sonneberg (district)|Sonneberg]] in [[Thuringia]] (also a center of dollmaking) and [[Seiffen]], as part of the industry of [[wooden toymaking in the Ore Mountains]]. Wood-carving usually provided the only income for the people living there. Today the travel industry supplements their income by bringing visitors to the remote areas. Carvings by famous names like Junghanel, Klaus Mertens, Karl, Olaf Kolbe, Petersen, Christian Ulbricht and especially the Steinbach nutcrackers have become collectors' items.

Decorative nutcrackers became popular in the United States after the [[Second World War]], following the first US production of ''The Nutcracker'' ballet in 1940 and the exposure of US soldiers to the dolls during the war.<ref name=fancy/> In the United States, few of the decorative nutcrackers are now functional, though expensive working designs are still available.<ref name=fancy/> Many of the woodworkers in Germany were in [[Ore Mountains|Erzgebirge]], in the Soviet zone after the end of the war, and they mass-produced poorly-made designs for the US market. With the increase in pre-shelled nuts, the need for functionality was also lessened. After the 1980s, Chinese and Taiwanese imports that copied the traditional German designs took over.<ref name=slate/><ref name=fancy>{{cite news|url=http://theplate.nationalgeographic.com/2014/12/08/why-nutcrackers-dont-actually-crack-nuts/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150403083859/http://theplate.nationalgeographic.com/2014/12/08/why-nutcrackers-dont-actually-crack-nuts/|url-status=dead|archive-date=April 3, 2015|title=Why Fancy Nutcrackers Don't Actually Crack Nuts|first=Mary Beth|last=Albright|work=The Plate|publisher=National Geographic|date=December 8, 2014|access-date=January 10, 2016}}</ref> The recreated "Bavarian village" of [[Leavenworth, Washington]], features a nutcracker museum. Many other materials also serve to make decorated nutcrackers, such as [[porcelain]], [[silver]], and [[brass]]; the museum displays samples. The [[United States Postal Service]] (USPS) issued four stamps in October 2008 with custom-made nutcrackers made by Richmond, Virginia artist Glenn Crider.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.smithsonianmag.com/smithsonian-institution/nutcrackers-at-national-postal-museum-33410746/?no-ist=|title=Nutcrackers at National Postal Museum|last=Gambino|first=Megan|work=Smithsonian Magazine|date=December 24, 2008|access-date=December 31, 2015}}</ref>

==Other uses==
Some artists, among them the multi-instrumentalist [[Mike Oldfield]], have used the sound nutcrackers make in music.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.tribune242.com/news/2017/feb/20/island-life-inspires-music-icon-mike-oldfield/|title=Island life inspires music icon Mike Oldfield|access-date=2018-12-02|language=en}}</ref>

An old belief among the [[Malay people]] in [[Southeast Asia]] states that an [[Areca catechu|areca]] nutcracker (''kacip pinang'') can be placed under a baby's pillow to prevent any harm from paranormal creatures.<ref name="PNM">{{Cite web|url=https://www.pnm.gov.my/sirihpinang/sp-kacip.htm|title=Kacip|date=1999|website=Sirih Pinang|publisher=Perpustakaan Negara Malaysia|language=Malay|access-date=26 June 2021}}</ref>

==In animals==
{{See also|Tool use in animals}}
Many animals shell nuts to eat them, including using tools. The [[Capuchin monkey]] is a fine example. [[Parrot]]s use their beaks as natural nutcrackers, in much the same way smaller birds crack seeds. In this case, the pivot point stands opposite the nut, at the jaw, or the beak.

==References==
{{Reflist}}

== External links ==
{{Commons category|Nutcrackers}}
* [http://web.ncf.ca/bf250/nutcracker.html Black Walnut Crackers]

{{Portal bar|Food}}
{{Kitchen Tools}}
{{Christmas}}
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[[Category:Food preparation utensils]]
[[Category:Eating utensils]]
[[Category:Mechanical hand tools]]
[[Category:Edible nuts and seeds|*]]
[[Category:Crustaceans|*]]
[[Category:Culture of the Ore Mountains]]