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Pine Nut Festival
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by glitzypursegirl | September 18, 2009 at 08:49 am
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stripped pine cone cobs as well as heavy green sap coated 20 pound pine cone bombs are also falling
the squirrels are leaving nuts just free for the pickings on the ground, I am not sure if they leave the "bad" nuts or just have more than they can handle.....the munchkin and I picked these up yesterday just off the ground...I am trying to explain to him why we have to be careful about falling pine cones and where the nuts come from, of course I am inept and cannot get one out of the shell....our dog eats them shell and all....alot of them!
Not a true nut rather a seed, the attempt of the tree to regenerate and plant it's seed is evidenced in the abundance of pine cones and "nuts" or seeds....they are flying to find a home in the earth and thus grow into a tree that can then continue the progeny
With an amazing long shelf life if left in the shell, anti-inflammatory and hunger suppression in a protein packed kernel, no wonder they are so popular with forest life and native americans preparing for a long winter of snow and dormant growth.
In native american foraging, this is the motherlode time of year for them and I am interested in learning how they shelled them without power tools, as well as finding a way to grind them into flour, I mean seriously, they have almond and walnut meal, why not pine nut meal? I live in a forest full of free foraging for the nuts.....just have to get a technique, I see a future of pine nut bread, pine nut crackers, scones, paste, pesto, and just nuts!
this is the local big pine nut festival weekend, a great paiute tradition!
we have a variety of pine trees in the yard from sugar pine to geoffrey, the later being the non-thorned cones, known as gentle jeffrey
all I had to do was peruse thesedaysinfrenchlife, to find her method for nut removal
off to the shed to hunt down a rubber mallet
It is amazing to watch these sheaths with pine nut attached fly down from burgeoning cones still in the tops of the trees
.....like a hail of helicopter nuts!
slow and unpredictable in their flight!
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glitzypursegirl
South Lake Tahoe, California, United States
Most RecentMost Recommended Comments (2)
at 08:21 on September 19th, 2009
Pinenuts are used quite a lot in Italian cooking. I store mine in the freezer and they last quite a long time. I have noticed that there is a big difference in quality depending on where they come from. Would like to know more about the different varieties, maybe this is the place to find out.
at 09:57 on September 19th, 2009
Thanks for the comment!
My understanding is that the Italian and european pine nuts are from the stone pine tree, quite different than those of the western united states, the pine trees here vary widely in size, shape and nut meat content, I think in our yard we have 4 different pine nut varieties here is a sampling of the 2 most prevalent
http://www.flickr.com/photos/49754167@N00/3934050245/
In addition are jeffrey pine, ponderosa pine, lodgepole pine and bristlecone pine.....in nevada there are lots of pinon pines and in new mexico they have the best harvestable pines for nuts with many acres being harvested for sale as a crop from public lands.
I suspect the stone pines and pignolia of Italy are better in flavor and storage, many native american tribes stored them shelled for the winter and used the crushed shells for poultices and medicinal purposes.
The ones I tasted this morning from our yard are very meaty, but not rich in flavor or reminiscent of the pine nuts I have purchased for baking....I read about the sugar pine nuts being made into butter like a nut butter, and should I get enough to do that with, I shall!
Thanks again for the comment, I enjoyed your biscotti article!