Everything you need to know about pine nuts

shutterstock.com

Pine nuts are the generalized name for the edible seeds of several plant species from the genus Pine (Pinus). That is why these pines are called cedar pines. But the seeds of plants from the genus cedar are inedible.

According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, the seeds of 29 species of cedar pines are edible. However, only 20 types of pine nuts are sold locally or internationally. The rest of the cedar pines have seeds, although edible, but they are so small that it is not economically feasible to collect them.

In our country, the seeds of the Siberian cedar pine (Pinus sibirica) are most often called pine nuts.

Interesting fact

Scientifically, pine nuts are not nuts because gymnosperms cannot bear fruit at all. But, as we can see, such a name is still attached to them in cooking.

Everything you need to know about pine nuts

wikipedia.org

Everything you need to know about pine nuts

shutterstock.com

 

Where are pine nuts produced?

Cedar pines are grown in Asia, Europe and North America. It should be noted that the seeds of all kinds of pines are edible, but most of them, as we have said, are too small to collect.

European pine nuts differ from Asian ones in their greater length compared to girth. Asian pine nuts are shorter, shaped like long grains of corn. American pine nuts are known for their large size and ease of peeling.

 

Asia

In Asia, 3 types of cedar pines are widely grown:

  • Korean cedar (has the names Korean pine, Korean cedar pine, Manchurian cedar – grows in Northeast Asia. It is most important in international trade;
  • Gerard's pine (or Gerard's pine, or chilgoza pine) – grows in the western Himalayas;
  • Siberian cedar pine (or Siberian cedar) – common in Western Siberia and Eastern Siberia, also grows in Kazakhstan, Northern Mongolia and China

Three other types of cedar pines in Asia are used to a lesser extent. These are: Elfin Pine (or Elfin Cedar), Chinese White Pine (or Armand Pine) and Lace Bark Pine (or Bunge Pine).

Russia is the largest producer of pine nuts in the world, sourced from the Siberian cedar pine (Pinus sibirica). Mongolia is the second largest producer and exporter of nuts, harvesting more than 10,000 tons of pine nuts annually and exporting up to 7000 tons of shelled pine nuts. A small amount of the crop is also harvested in Kazakhstan, where the main consumption is on the domestic market. China is the largest importer of pine nuts.

Everything you need to know about pine nuts

Siberian cedar (Pinus sibirica), Asia | wikipedia.org, wikipedia.org

 

Europe

Pine nuts produced in Europe are mainly obtained from the pine pine called Pinus pinea, also called Pine, or Italian Pine. Pine has been grown for pine nuts for over 5000 years. Pine seeds are the largest (1 pieces are contained in 1500 kilogram), and they are superior in taste to other pine nuts.

Pine nuts of pine pines are widely used in the confectionery industry, crushed nuts are included in the famous Italian pesto sauce. Pine is cultivated in the Mediterranean, on the southern coast of Crimea and in the Caucasus.

To a much lesser extent, European Cedar Pine (or European Pine, or European Cedar) is grown in Europe.

Everything you need to know about pine nuts

Pine pine (Pinus pinea), Europe | wikipedia.org, flickr.com

 

North America

Here, pine nuts are called pinyons, and pine pines are called pinyon pines.

In North America, the main species are 3 piñon pines:

  • Pine edible (or Colorado Pine) – widespread in the United States (Colorado, Utah, Arizona, Texas);
  • Single-coniferous pine – grows in Mexico (Baja California) and the USA (Arizona, California, Nevada, Utah)
  • Mexican pine (or Mexican cedar) – distributed in Mexico almost everywhere (in 15 states) and the USA (Arizona, New Mexico, Texas).

In the United States, pine nuts are primarily harvested by Indians and Spanish communities for personal consumption and for sale. Piñons are an important food for the American Indians living in the mountains of southwestern North America. Prehistoric American Indian harvesting methods are still used to collect pine nuts.

Interesting fact

In some states, there are certain treaties concluded by local tribes. So the laws of Nevada guarantee the right of Native Americans to collect pine nuts.

The State of New Mexico defends the use of the word "piñon" to refer to the pine nuts of certain species of native New Mexico pines.

Everything you need to know about pine nuts

From left to right: Mexican piñon (Cembroides Pinus), Colorado piñon (Pinus edulis), Single-leaved piñon (Pinus monophylla). North America | flickr.com, wikimedia.org, wikipedia.org

 

Features of growth and productivity of cedar pines

Siberian cedar (Asia) can reach a height of 40 meters, and its maximum life span is 500 years (according to some sources, 800–850 years). Mature cones of the Siberian cedar are large, elongated, egg-shaped, first purple and then brown, reaching a length of 13 cm. The cones mature within 14-15 months and fall off in September of the next year. The cones fall off entirely without opening. Each cone contains 30 to 150 seeds (pine nuts). The weight of 1000 seeds is 250 grams. From one tree you can get up to 12 kg of pine nuts per season. Siberian cedar begins to bear fruit after an average of 60 years, sometimes later. A bountiful harvest is repeated after 3–10 years. The yield of pine nuts in various types of cedar forests in Western Siberia ranges from 10 to 640 kg/ha.

Pine pine (Europe) reaches a height of 20–30 meters and usually lives up to 150 years (rarely 200–250). Cones are usually solitary or 2-3 pieces, up to 15 cm long, ovoid or almost spherical. Pine nuts in cones mature in 36 months (longer than any other pine tree) in October, but the cones do not open until the following spring. After the seeds fall out, the cones hang on the branches for another 2-3 years. The fecundity of Pinia in open areas begins at the age of 5-10 years, in forests – at the age of 20-30 years.

American piñon pines reach a height of 10–20 meters and often live up to 300 years. Each pinion pine cone produces 10 to 30 seeds, and a productive pine forest in a good year can produce 137 kg of pine nuts (pinyons) from 0,5 hectares of land. A bountiful harvest of cones and seeds occurs only every 2–7 years, and a good harvest is obtained on average every 4 years.

Interesting fact

In the USA, in the state of Nevada, a single-coniferous pine (Pinus monophylla) grows, whose age is determined at 888 years (it was recorded in 2006.)

Hack and predictor Aviator

Cedar pines begin to bear fruit only after 20, 30, and even after 60 years. A plentiful harvest of pine nuts is not obtained every year. Now you understand why pine nuts are so expensive.

Everything you need to know about pine nuts

pxhere.com

Everything you need to know about pine nuts

shutterstock.com

 

How Pine Nuts Are Harvested and Extracted

Pine nuts of the Italian pine fall out of the cones after ripening and the fallen seeds can simply be collected under the tree. In the rest of the cedar pines, the ripened cones fall off entirely, without opening.

The first option for harvesting pine nuts is to wait until the cones on the tree open on their own (which is natural), and collect the already dried cones, after which the extraction process follows.

Another option for the extraction of pine nuts is with the help of chisels. A stabbing is a kind of giant mallet, a large wooden hammer. To shed cedar cones, they hit the cedar trunk with a stab, causing the trunk and branches to vibrate. Blows are applied with the foot of the stab in the ground 0,5–1,5 meters from the cedar trunk, by one person. When using heavy stabs, they beat two or three together, sometimes they use rope braces.

The use of a stab causes significant damage to the cedar pine. The stabbing strips off the bark and damages the outer layer of the wood, especially when the cones tend to knock down every last cone, some of which are usually not ripe enough. At the site of constant blows, most cedars in commercial forests form an area of ​​dead wood (baldness, dolbuha, forehead, nickel) and a traumatic outgrowth around it.

Pine cones are collected and placed in a burlap bag. They are then exposed to a heat source such as the sun to begin the drying process. It takes about 20 days for the cones to fully open. When the pine nuts are completely dry and open, they can be easily removed.

To extract pine nuts from cones, special devices called cone crushers are used (one such example is shown in the video at the end of the article).

Interesting fact

American Indians use the following method of harvesting pine nuts. In September and October, pickers knock the cones off the piñon pines with poles, pile the cones in a heap, sprinkle with brushwood, set fire to and lightly roast the cones with fire. When burned, the sticky resin that covers the cones burns out and the seeds loosen. The cones are then dried in the sun until the seeds can be easily removed.

 

How to store pine nuts

As you know, pine nuts are covered with a hard shell – in some species it is thick, in others it is thin. Before eating pine nuts, the shell, of course, must be removed. Cleaning on an industrial scale is carried out on special equipment. And to peel pine nuts from the shell at home, watch the video at the end of the article, where the author gives several proven methods.

European pine nuts differ from Asian ones in their greater length compared to girth. Asian pine nuts are shorter, shaped like long grains of corn. American piñons are known for their large size and ease of cleaning.

Unshelled pine nuts have a long shelf life when stored dry in the refrigerator (-5 to 2°C). Shelled nuts spoil quickly, becoming rancid within weeks or even days in warm, humid conditions.

Pine nuts are usually sold in a shelled form and due to poor storage may have a bad taste and may be rancid at the time of purchase. Consequently, pine nuts are often frozen to preserve their flavor.

Everything you need to know about pine nuts

shutterstock.com

Everything you need to know about pine nuts

shutterstock.com

 

Nutritional value of pine nuts

Pine nut kernels are very tasty and contain many beneficial nutrients such as pine nut oil, nitrogenous substances (essential amino acids), carbohydrates (fructose, sucrose, glucose, starch) and trace elements.

Pine nut kernels are rich in B vitamins, vitamins E and K, as well as iron, phosphorus, zinc, magnesium, copper and especially manganese. As with all nuts, they are high in fat (especially polyunsaturated fatty acids).

The daily human need for such deficient trace elements as manganese, copper, zinc and cobalt is provided by 100 grams of pine nuts. They are also a rich source of iodine.

100 grams of pine nuts satisfy the daily requirement of the human body for protein by 15%. In addition, pine nut protein differs from most products in its increased content of lysine, methionine and tryptophan – the most deficient essential amino acids, which usually limit the biological value of proteins.

Read more about the nutritional value of pine nuts on Wikipedia.

Everything you need to know about pine nuts

shutterstock.com

 

The use of pine nuts

In cooking

Pine nuts can be eaten both raw and after heat treatment.

The pine nut kernel is used as a raw material for the production of pine nut oil. Cake, which remains after squeezing cedar oil from the kernel, is ground and used as a flavoring agent and enricher with microelements and vitamins in the preparation of confectionery and culinary dishes. Pine nut shell is an ingredient for some balms and tinctures.

Combined products with cedar cake have been developed: cheeses, mayonnaises, confectionery pastes, instant cereals, food concentrates – semi-finished flour confectionery products, bakery products.

 

Pine nut oil

Pine nuts are used to make cedar fatty oil. It contains 2 times more vitamin E compared to walnuts and almonds, as well as vitamin P (essential fatty acids). In terms of the amount of fatty acids, cedar oil is superior to peanut, soybean, sunflower, corn and cottonseed oils.

On the basis of cedar oil, formulations of three-component mixtures of vegetable oils have been developed, optimized in terms of the composition of acids ω-3 and ω-6 and intended for functional nutrition.

Cedar oil is used in the food industry, medicine, soap making, for the manufacture of drying oil and varnishes. It is also used in the composition of cosmetic preparations, medicines and dietary supplements.

Everything you need to know about pine nuts

shutterstock.com

 

Medical use

Pine nut oil is a complete source of polyunsaturated fatty acids. To meet the daily requirement of essential fatty acids, it is necessary to consume about 20 ml of oil per day daily. It has a cholesterol-lowering effect, contributes to the normalization of the blood lipid spectrum, lowering systolic blood pressure and reducing excess body weight.

Crushed pine nuts inhibit gastric secretion, the production of gastric juice decreases and its acidity decreases.

The preventive efficacy of cedar oil was confirmed when it was included in the diet of patients with cardiovascular pathology.

From the resin of the Siberian cedar pine in Russia, natural chewing gum is produced to prevent diseases of the oral cavity.

Pine nut shell infusion has astringent, analgesic, anti-inflammatory effect. In folk medicine, an infusion of pine nut shells is drunk against deafness, hemorrhoids, neuroses, kidney diseases (for example, urolithiasis), and liver. In the literature, there are recommendations for the use of pine nut shell infusion externally for rubbing “for colds, body aches, rheumatism, gout, joint pain”, inside to raise the tone and restore the normal functioning of the organs of the gastrointestinal tract.

The use of a decoction is recommended for blood diseases, as well as for resorption of salts in arthritis, salt deposition, and osteochondrosis. Baths with a decoction of pine nut shells are recommended "for rheumatism, arthritis, gout, lumbago." Lotions and wraps are recommended for burns and skin diseases such as lichen, pustular lesions, eczema. Rinses are used for inflammation of the mucous membranes of the oral cavity.

Traditional medicine advises the use of crushed nuts with honey for diseases of the gastrointestinal tract: gastritis, bulbitis, chronic pancreatitis, stomach and duodenal ulcers; with the same problems, cedar oil obtained by pressing is also used.

 

Extraction of pine nuts in Siberia

 

Industrial production of pine nuts

 

How to shell pine nuts

 

How to select, store and prepare pine nuts

 

Gorny Altai: nut fever