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of Pinon nuts, Italian pignolia and the Nevada Pine nut.
Pine trees
are common, less known perhaps is the fact that some members
of the pine family also bear edible seeds or "nuts". Out of
the 100 recognized species of true pines, only a "few
produce nuts of sufficient quality and desirable flavor to
make them worth eating."
Pine nut
varieties that have different names come from different species
of Pine trees. Pine nuts from New Mexico are called Pinon
nuts or Piñon by Law in New Mexico. Euell Gibbons called the
pinon nut "The most palatable of all the wild foods."
This is quite a compliment. Pinon is a name derived from the
Spanish word for pine nut. Pinon nuts come specifically from
the pine tree species: pinus edulis. They taste different
from other varieties. The pinon pine tree is a two-needled
pine which grows wild in high desert mountain areas of Colorado,
New Mexico, Arizona, and Utah. These edible nuts are not to
be confused with the "single needle" pine tree from Nevada.
The pinon nut grown primarily on Indian reservations in the
Southwest United States is normally roasted in the shell.
Their availability is rather scarce, and the pinon nut must
first be removed from the shell prior to consumption. New
Mexico Pinon nuts are very difficult to harvest, hence their
cost.
Pine nut
development in North America is modest in comparison with
that in Europe. The Italian pine tree, with superior timber,
is larger and grows faster than the stunted pinon of the southwestern
United States. Italian stone pine plantations are well established
in Mediterranean Europe, while the American pinon remains
mostly neglected and uncultivated.
About
European Pine nuts
The most
common in Europe is the "pignolia" nuts of the Italian stone
pine, grown for the most part in Spain, Portugal, Italy, and
North Africa. In Italian stone pine harvests, the trees are
shaken to remove the kernel. Once removed, they are dried
further before being processed in a milling station to remove
the kernel from its hard outer shell. The kernels and shells
are separated by sifting; the testa, or thin skin which still
covers the kernel, is then removed. Thereafter, the kernels
are graded and sized. Superior, unblemished, shelled kernels,
both large and small, are reserved for the export market;
the remaining kernels are sold locally or utilized in prepared
foods. Although pignolia nuts may be eaten out of hand, raw
or roasted, they have the distinction of being the only nuts
used predominantly as ingredients for cooking. For many centuries
in European cookery, they have been blended with meats, fish
and poultry, and have been used in many different sauces.
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