Pine nuts come from pine nuts. These pine trees are native to the United States, although other pine trees with edible pine nuts are native to Europe and Asia, such as the European stone pine and the Asian Korean pine. Pine nuts are the smallest and most elegant of all nuts. The taste is sweet and subtle.
Pine nuts produced in Europe come mainly from the pine nut (Pinus pinea), which has been cultivated for its nuts for more than 5000 years. Pine nuts have been harvested from wild trees for much longer. Swiss pine (Pinus cembra) is also used, to a very small extent. It should be obvious, but those expensive pine nuts we buy in supermarkets come from pine trees.
Pine nuts can be harvested in October if the pineapples are opened and strong winds don't blow in that area. I live in Carson City, Nevada, and a mountain range called Pine Nut Mountains is full of trees that can be hit with a stick after placing tarps, then dragging them to the next tree and repeat. Pine nut pancakes with elderberry syrup are also very tasty. I still prefer to pick up the green cones.
All pine trees produce nuts that can be eaten. However, some species have much smaller nuts. If you're serious about harvesting your own pine nuts, you should look for some pine trees in early summer. Pineapples are usually ready to harvest from July to November, depending on where you live.
In Sweden, pineapples are available in markets in November. Leo Sharashkin, a Russian forester who now lives in Missouri, still remembers feeling overwhelmed the first time he saw this pine nut harvest. So why take the whole cone home? I see that the nuts almost fall off the cones that are still attached to the tree. Yes, I have two pine nut trees in my house, but before this post I never had a clue how to harvest and now I will try to get a lot of pine nuts, thank you very much for your knowledge to share with people.
People who are allergic to nuts often wonder if they can consume sunflowers, pine nuts, poppy, pumpkin, sesame seeds, chufa, etc. . I wouldn't recommend breaking the pine nut shell, because you'll probably also break the small nut inside. But in both areas, pine nuts are deeply embedded in local culture and in foods prepared on special occasions.
The fact that it takes a lot of time and patience is an understatement and justifies the high price of pine nuts worldwide. In Italian they are called pinoli (in the United States they are usually called pignoli, but in Italy pignolo is actually a word that is used much more frequently to describe a picky, overly demanding or extremely meticulous person) and they are an essential component of Italian pesto sauce; the increase in popularity of this sauce since the 1990s has increased the visibility of walnuts in the United States, mainly on the West Coast. Some raw pine nuts can cause flavor alterations, which can last from a few days to a few weeks after consumption. As mentioned before, peeling pine nuts is a big hassle and there is no quick way to do it at home.
Unless you can find a lost Italian stone pine tree planted somewhere as a garden tree, oriental pine nuts are too small or have shells that are very difficult to bother. They are expensive because of the time it takes to grow the walnuts and the effort to harvest the seeds from their protective shell. .
