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Pine nuts, also called piñón (), pinoli (), or pignoli, are the edible seeds of (family Pinaceae, genus Pinus). According to the Food and Agriculture Organization, only 29 species provide edible nuts, while 20 are traded locally or internationally owing to their seed size being large enough to be worth harvesting; in other pines, the seeds are also edible but are too small to be of notable value as human food. The biggest exporters of pine nuts are China, Russia, North Korea, Pakistan and Afghanistan.
As pines are , not (flowering plants), pine nuts are not ""; they are not botanical , the seed not being enclosed in an Plant ovary which develops into the fruit, but simply bare seeds—"gymnosperm" meaning literally "naked seed" (from and ). The similarity of pine nuts to some angiosperm fruits is an example of convergent evolution.
Pine nuts produced in Europe mostly come from the stone pine ( P. pinea), which has been cultivated for its nuts for over 5,000 years. Pine nuts have been harvested from wild trees for far longer. The Swiss pine ( P. cembra) is also used, to a very small extent.
In North America, the main species are three of the : Colorado pinyon ( P. edulis), single-leaf pinyon ( P. monophylla), and Mexican pinyon ( P. cembroides). The other eight pinyon species are used to a small extent, as is gray pine ( P. sabineana), Coulter pine ( P. coulteri), Torrey pine ( P. torreyana), sugar pine ( P. lambertiana) and Parry pinyon ( P. quadrifolia). Here, the nuts themselves are known by the Spanish name for the pinyon pine, piñón (plural: piñones).
In the United States, pine nuts are mainly harvested by Native American and Hispano communities, particularly in the Western United States and Southwestern United States, by the Shoshone, Southern Paiute, Navajo, Pueblo, Hopi, Washo people, and Hispanos of New Mexico. Certain treaties negotiated by tribes and laws in Nevada guarantee Native Americans' right to harvest pine nuts, and the state of New Mexico protects the use of the word piñon for use with pine nuts from certain species of indigenous New Mexican pines.
For some American species, development begins in early spring with pollination. A tiny cone, about the size of a small marble, will form from mid-spring through the end of summer; this immature cone will temporarily cease growing and remain dormant until the following spring, then grow again until it reaches maturity near the end of its second summer. The mature piñon pine cone is ready to harvest ten days before the green cone begins to open. A cone is harvested by placing it in a burlap bag and exposing it to a heat source such as the sun to begin drying. It takes about 20 days until the cone fully opens. Once it is fully open and dry, the seed can be easily extracted in various ways. The most common and practical extraction method used is the repeated striking of the burlap bag containing the cone(s) against a rough surface to cause the cone(s) to shatter, leaving just the job of separating by hand the seed from the residue within the bag.
Another option for harvesting is to wait until the cone opens on the tree (as it naturally will) and harvest the cone from the piñon pine, followed by the extracting process mentioned above. Fallen seeds can also be gathered beneath the trees.
American pinyon pine cone production is most commonly found at an elevation between , and ideally at . This is due to higher temperatures at elevations lower than during the spring, which dry up humidity and moisture content (particularly snow packs) that provide for the tree throughout the spring and summer, causing little nourishment for pine cone maturity.
Although several other environmental factors determine the conditions of the ecosystem (such as clouds and rain), the trees tend to abort cones without sufficient water. High humidity encourages cone development. There are certain topographical areas found in lower elevations, such as shaded canyons, where the humidity remains constant throughout the spring and summer, allowing pine cones to fully mature and produce seed.
At elevations above , the temperature substantially drops, drastically affecting the state of the dormant cone. During the winter, frequent dramatic changes in temperature, drying, and gusty winds make the cones susceptible to freeze-drying that permanently damages them; in this case, growth is stunted, and the seeds deteriorate.
The shell must be removed before the pine nut can be eaten. Unshelled pine nuts have a long shelf life if kept dry and refrigerated (); shelled nuts (and unshelled nuts in warm conditions) deteriorate rapidly, becoming rancid within a few weeks or even days in warm, humid conditions. Pine nuts are commercially available in the shelled form, but due to poor storage, they can have poor flavor and may already be rancid at the time of purchase. Consequently, pine nuts are often frozen to preserve their flavor.
European pine nuts may be distinguished from Asian ones by their greater length than girth; Asian pine nuts are stubbier, shaped somewhat like long kernels of corn. The American piñon nuts are known for their large size and ease of shelling. In the United States, Pinus edulis, the hard shell of New Mexico and Colorado, became a sought-after species due to the trading post system and the Navajo people who used the nuts as a means of commerce. The Italian pine nut ( Pinus pinea) was brought to the United States by immigrants and became a favored treat along the East Coast in the early 1930s, when of American pine nuts were readily available at low prices.
In Italian, they are called pinoli (in the US, they are often called pignoli, but in Italy, pignolo is actually a word far more commonly used to describe a fussy, overly fastidious or extremely meticulous person)Locally also pinoccoli or pinocchi; Pinocchio is the Tuscan dialect (Florentine) word for "pine nut", from Vulgar Latin * pīnuculus. (Devoto, Battisti-Alessio) and are an essential component of Italian pesto sauce; the upsurge in the popularity of this sauce since the 1990s has increased the visibility of the nut in America, primarily on the West Coast. Torta della nonna (literally "granny's cake") is a generic Italian dish name that in most families indicates an old family recipe for any cake but often is used for a tart or a pie filled with custard, topped with pine nuts and optionally dusted with icing sugar. Pignoli cookies, an Italian American specialty confection (in Italy, these would be called biscotti ai pinoli), are made of almond meal formed into a dough similar to that of a macaroon and then topped with pine nuts.
In Catalonia, a sweet is made of small marzipan balls covered with pine nuts, painted with egg, and lightly cooked, and those are called "panellets". Pine nuts are also featured in the salade landaise of southwestern France. Nevada, or Great Basin, pine nut has a sweet fruity flavor and is promoted for its large size, sweet flavor, and ease of peeling.
Pine nuts are also widely used in Levantine cuisine, reflected in a diverse range of dishes such as kibbeh, sambusak, fatayer, and Maqluba, desserts such as baklava, meghli, and many others.Basan, Ghillie. The Levantine Table: Vibrant and delicious recipes from the Eastern Mediterranean and Beyond, Ryland Peters & Small, London, July 12, 2022
Throughout Europe, the Levant, and West Asia, the pine nuts used are traditionally from Pinus pinea (stone pine). They are easily distinguished from the Asian pine nuts by their more slender shape and more homogeneous flesh. Because of the lower price, Asian pine nuts are also often used, especially in cheaper preparations.
Pine nut oil is added to foods for flavor.
In northern California, pine nuts are collected from the grey pine or bull pine. Tribes burn designs into the hard shell, reflecting the same design they use in baskets; however, they are often left blank or burned to blacken. These are more often used in women's regalia and jewelry.
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