Pines

Pines

[genus Pinus of family Pinaceae (pines)]

Pine nuts (officially a seed, not a nut) have been eaten since prehistoric times in Europe, Asia and North America. Today the sweet resinous seeds are somewhat costly and used mostly as a flavoring ingredient but Italian pesto sauce is often based on pine nuts (other nuts are also used).

Pine nuts from a number of species are available. In Europe it's mostly the Stone Pine (Pinus pinea) and in Asia the Korean Pine (Pinus koraiensis) and Chilgoza Pine (Pinus gerardiana). Siberian Pine (Pinus sibirica) and a number of other varieties are also used. In North America seeds of various species of Pinon pines (subgenus Ducampopinus) are harvested.

The most common commercial pine nut is the Korean, a fairly large seed, followed by the Siberian, a fairly small seed. North American Pinon seeds are large but in very short supply, particularly due to misguided forest destruction to make range land after WWII. Most now come from Mexico and the price is much higher than for Korean or Siberian seeds.

The soft layer between pine bark and the wood is also edible and has been used as a famine food. Pine needles are sometimes used as a flavoring.

The photo shows the end of a pine branch from a tree in my front yard with tiny male cones at the center, a pine cone of unknown source and a few whole seeds in the shell from that cone. The small shelled seeds were commercially purchased and are from Siberian pines.

Warning: Nearly all shelled pine nuts sold in the U.S, (over 99%) come from China, the "Land of Lead and Melamine". Some health problems of still unknown cause have been found in many batches of Chinese pine nuts. Symptoms are a strong bitter metallic taste in the back of the mouth which makes it impossible to enjoy food or drink for a period of up to 8 days from ingestion of the pine nuts. So far unshelled nuts have not been implicated.

Because Portuguese pine nuts are not much exported to the U.S., the only real alternative is "shell them yourself" pinion pine nuts from the Western U.S. and Mexico.

Pine Nuts The seeds shown to the left are from Pinion Pines (P. monophylla) in Nevada. Upper right, in the shell (0.56 inch long x 0.30 inch, 120/ounce), lower left, shelled (0.48 inch long x 0.25 inch, 150/ounce) and of course in the upper left is our ever present red kidney bean for scale. Shelled yield is about 80%. Unlike some pine nutes these pinon nuts have very thin shells.

Buying and Storing: These nuts can be ordered on-line when in season. A convenient source is Goods from the Woods. Keep them frozen buried in the back of your freezer compartment where the temperature is most stable - in the shell they'll keep about 1 year.

Prep: Yes, these nuts are tedious to shell. I whack each nut with the flat side of my prep knife, just hard enough to crack it but not hard enough to damage the kernel inside. I then pry the shell apart with my fingernails.