Crunchy and flavorful, these delicate, parchment colored pine nuts (also known as pignolias) are a source of ongoing culinary inspiration. Highly nutritious and even tastier, our pine nuts are perfect when sprinkled liberally on salads, or added to recipes. Pine nuts are especially tasty when toasted and enjoyed by the handful.

More on Pine Nuts:
The pine tree family is a very well-known evergreen, popular for its excellent softwood timber, and for its by products: turpentine and rosin. The edible seeds of some of its members are sometimes referred to as nuts. Out of approximately 100 species of true pines, about twelve produce good quality and flavorful nuts. Of these, the three main pine nuts that are traded in the United States are the European pignolia, the North American pin?on and the Chinese pine nut.

Pignolia refers to the Italian stone pine, which also grows in Portugal and North Africa. Pin?on, Spanish for pine nut, is the name given to the pine nuts that grow wild in the western United States, mainly in Colorado, New Mexico and Utah. Pine trees also grow on the European Alps and the Carpathian Mountains. Asian pine nuts are found in eastern Afghanistan, portions of Pakistan and northern Himalaya; the Siberian stone pine grows in the Ural Mountain region of the Soviet Union; the Korean nut pine is native to Korea, China and northern Japan; the Japanese dwarf stone pine is found in the Japanese archipelago and on the adjacent mainland. Most of the Asiatic pine nuts are consumed locally and are not exported.

In the U.S. pine nuts are available in gourmet, health-food and specialty nut stores. Shelled pignolias, imported from Europe, are the second most expensive edible nut after macadamias. Domestically grown pin?on nuts, are cheaper, but are not always available, as their crop is erratic from year to year. They are not cultivated, but are harvested from wild trees, mainly by hand. Recently, imported Chinese pine nuts have begun to compete successfully with the two aforementioned gourmet varieties. As for the nutritional value of pine nuts, American pin?on nuts are higher in fat, calories and carbohydrates, than European pignolias. However, pignolias contain more protein.

The annual pin?on harvest is estimated at 2 million to 4 million pounds, though it is difficult to obtain accurate statistics, because collection is haphazard and much of it is consumed without being reported. Production has declined since World War II, especially since less expensive nuts, such as peanuts, compete fiercely with pine nuts.

Why are pine nuts not cultivated on a large scale?
Cultivation may have been considered unnecessary because of the proliferation of pine trees in the wild. Also, the excessively long wait for the first crop, sometimes as much as twenty-five years after planting, may have discouraged the domestication of pine trees. It is extremely difficult to harvest the cones when they are still on the tree, but when one waits until the mature cones drop their seeds to the ground one runs the serious risk of losing them to pests such as rats, squirrels and birds. In fact, the theory goes that the American Indians first learned about pine nuts by discovering them in the caches of rodents. Finding them to be highly edible, they decided to gather the nuts themselves! Even today, the hiding places of the wood rat and squirrel are plundered by humans for their stored pin?on nuts on some Indian reservations. (The authorities encourage the people who do this to replace the nuts with pinto beans, in order not to jeopardize the animals food supply.)

What role did pine nuts play in American history?
Indians of the southwestern United States have always enjoyed pine nuts as an important food source. Spanish explorers of the 16th century observed the Indians using pin?on nuts, sometimes grinding them up into a meal. Pin?on nuts were also a source of fuel for the Indians, while its wood was utilized in construction. The Indians used pin?on gum pitch as a glue for waterproofing jugs and for repairing pottery, as a black dye for blankets, and as a medicinal dressing for open wounds. Fumes of the burning gum were inhaled to treat head colds, coughs and earaches. A harvest of pin?on nuts was a family outing for the American Indian. They often camped out in the nut groves, remaining there until snow fell. Mostly they picked the seeds off the ground, but sometimes they used hooked sticks to beat the cones down from the trees. In August and September, when the early cones were still green and closed, some of them were opened by the heat of fires and consumed on the site, but the bulk was usually taken back to the villages, roasted in the shell, and stored in jars or baskets for use in the winter. In fact, unshelled, roasted pin?on nuts can be safely stored for a year or more.

The Indians consumed pin?on nuts raw or roasted by cracking them between the teeth, or they ground them into a flour and mixed them with cornmeal or sunflower seed to make a nutritious bread. The kernels were sometimes mashed and used in the preparation of a tasty pine nut butter, to spread on hot corn cakes, or to make a thick soup.

Pine Nut Development
In America uncultivated pin?on-juniper woodland occupies several million acres, between deserts and mountains, ranging from Texas to California, and from Idaho into Mexico. But these trees are stunted in comparison to the larger Italian stone pine tree, which grows much faster and has superior timber. In Italy stone pine plantations are well established, whereas even the state tree of New Mexico, Pinus edulis, the common pin?on, is small and low, though it is rugged and drought resistant. It grows to a height of twenty feet, first bearing nuts at the age of 25, and not reaching full production until the age of 75! Even then it only bears a large crop every two or three years. The Italian stone pine is a familiar conifer, that not only provides pignolia nuts (known in Italy as Pinocchios) and timber, but is also an ornamental, picturesque tree. It can grow to a height of 80 feet. Each of its cones contains about 100 seeds, the kernels of which have a unique sweet flavor. Italian cones, as well as their American counterparts, require 3 years to mature.

What is so unique about pine nuts?
Pine nuts are the only nut that is used as a cooking ingredient, although they may be eaten out of hand, raw or roasted. In Europe they have been blended in combination with lamb, veal, chicken, duck and fish. They also appear in stuffings, sauces, vegetables, soups, stews, cakes and puddings. Sometimes they are coated with chocolate and consumed as a confection. Pignolias of inferior quality are expressed for their oil, which is used in pharmaceuticals, while the residual cake is fed to livestock. Their shells and cones are a source of fuel in many European communities.

What method is used in Europe to harvest pine nuts?
In Europe the cones are usually cut or broken loose by means of a long pole that has an iron hook on its end. Harvesting may take place anytime from October through March. After the cones are collected from beneath the trees, they are transported to open areas and left to dry in the sun. This causes the scales to open and loosen the seeds. The cones are beaten by hand or machine to separate the seeds, after which the seeds are further dried and the kernel is separated from its shell. The kernels are graded and sized, with the superior, unblemished ones reserved for export, and the remaining ones sold locally or utilized in prepared foods.