Harvesting pine nuts

[madness]

I wasn't sure where else to ask this.

I was helping watch the neighbor's kid the other day when we started playing with the pine cones from the trees just up the street. The trees are on someone else's property but the owners like the neighbor kids picking up the cones since it gets them off their lawn. Anyway, she pointed out to me that the cones had seeds in them. I cracked the outer hull off one and sure enough they taste like the best pine nuts you can buy in the grocery store (you know, the ones for $20 a pound).

Does anyone harvest pine nuts? Are there any techniques to make it easier? It seemed like it would be a rather tedious task on a small scale! What sort of yeild?

Marissa

[swollen tongue]

the pine nuts that are sold in the stores are from the Pinion Pine which is native to the southwest of the U.S. .....Co., Ut. Az. Ca. N.M. and maybe Tx. ? The native americans harvest them in the fall from the cones after they have ripened and opened up.

[suitcase_sally]

I grew up in the Piedmont area of North Carolina and they have lots of Long Leaf pines. As kids we would harvest them for snacks. You had to get them before they started to sprout or they tasted of pine tar (pitch).

[Simpler Times]

To get them in any quantity you have to take the cones from the trees before they have opened and released most of their seeds. For small amounts, you can heat them in the oven (at low temp and very carefully so they don't catch on fire of course) to make the cone open then shake the seeds out. In larger quantities they are heated around outside fires.

[Trixie]

Is any pine nuts good to eat?

I am not sure what kind of pines we have here in NE Texas, I never gave it much thought - but I sure like pine nuts.

[GrannyG]

When living in the mts of AZ, we would spread sheets on the ground and knock the cones down, shake them and loosen some of the nuts. Also, a mean way was to watch the chipmonks, many times you could find an enoumous amout in their nests. It is learning to crack them just right with your teeth that is the fun part, or just be lazy and buy them by the bags, already to use.

[Trixie]

Poor little Chip and Dale - yes, that's mean - but very ingenuous.

Do they have a hull, even after they come out of the cone?

Boy, I'm so --- well clueless.

[GrannyG]

Yes,there is a thin shell on the pinon nut. You have to balance it just right between your teeth and crack it, splits it, and then take the nutmeat out, and it is very, very tiny, but ohhhhh, so good !

[Trixie]

I may see if the pine tree in the pasture makes pine nuts.

[Old John]

Do Pinon Pines grow outside the South Western States??
Would they Grow in Indiana?
I Pinon Pine Nuts! They are very different from any other Kind.
I collected a few, a pound or so, on a trip to New Mexico, a few
years ago.

But, can I grow my own?? Will the Pinon Pine Trees grow in Indiana??
We are in Zone 5, I think.
Thanks........

[gobug]

Old John,

I know a bit about Pinon Pines. I have hundreds on my mountain property. I learned that while they may transplant to some place like Indiana, it takes a hundred years for them to produce the nuts. So even if they did grow in Indiana, you would have to wait a few family generations to get a harvest.

[jennigrey]

I am trying to decide which species of pine nut to plant here in zone 4. Here are some links I have been using to make my decision:

About growing your own pine nuts:
http://www.pinenut.com/grow.htm


A place that sells several types of nut-bearing pines (but not, apparantly, the stone pine - pinus pinea), and has info for each species:
http://www.nuttrees.com/edible.htm


Dietary Information of various species of pine nut:
http://www.pinenut.com/values-species.htm


An interesting blurb from Wiki:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pine_nut
"Unshelled pine nuts have a long shelf life if kept dry and refrigerated (at -5 to +2°C), but the shell must be removed before the nut is eaten; 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 shelled form, but due to poor storage, these rarely have a good flavour. All too often they are already rancid at the time of purchase. The most important species in international trade is Korean Pine, harvested in northeast China. In the United States and Mexico, the pinyon pines have traditionally been the most highly sought after pine nuts."