Pine nuts are one of the most expensive nuts on the market due to the time it takes to produce them, and the labor required to extract the seeds from their protection.
Pine nuts are the little, delectable, teardrop-shaped nuts that are frequently used to make pesto and to prepare other foods. You may be familiar with them. The edible seeds of pine trees are called pine nuts, or pignoli. The inside, typically edible portion of a hard, inedible nutshell is called the seed.
The Pine Nut-Producing Pine Trees
Large enough to be harvested, pine seeds are produced by about 20 different species of pine trees. The four pine tree kinds that provide the most often collected seeds are the Mexican pinon (Pinus cembroides), Colorado pinion (Pinus edulis), Italian stone pine (Pinus pinea), and Chinese nut pine (Pinus koraiensis).
An Extensive and Difficult Harvest
The trees can take up to three times as long to attain maximum production as they do before they start producing seeds, ranging from 15 to 25 years. Most of the crop in North America originates from untamed, wild trees. The majority of the time, the seeds are gathered by hand, which adds to their high cost.
Pine cones contain seeds, which take around 18 months to sprout. It is exceedingly tough to remove the pine nuts because they are ready to be harvested around ten days before the cone opens.
The cones are soaked in a burlap sack and dried in the sun for 20 days to expedite and simplify the process. The seeds are then manually removed from the cones when the cones are broken. This is another laborious task that requires a great deal of patience.
Each pine nut contains a second shell that needs to be removed before consumption in addition to the pine cone that covers the seed. While some of these shells are thinner and simpler to remove, others are thicker and more difficult. The price of the pine nut is understandably high due to all of the aforementioned causes.
Look and Function
Pine nuts are tiny, half-inch-long, elongated, ivory-colored seeds. The seeds taste sweet and buttery when uncooked, and they have a delicate texture. Often, they are lightly toasted to enhance the flavor and provide a hint of crunch.
Numerous civilizations worldwide consume pine nuts, which go by various names. The most common uses in the United States are as a crunchy salad topping or in pesto. They work well as an ingredient in sweets like shortbread biscuits and to give hummus a unique flavor.
Grasping Mouth and Allergy
Pine nuts are delicate and sweet, yet eating them can have unfavorable repercussions. Known as “pine nut mouth” or “pine nut syndrome,” this illness results from consuming pine nuts alone, which gives other foods you eat a bitter, metallic flavor. Luckily, this is only temporary, and it’s thought that certain varieties of pine trees, mostly found in China, are the reason. Additionally, compared to other nut allergies, pine nut allergies are far less common, yet still being real.
Amazing Health Advantages of Pine Nuts
Pine nuts are a healthful snack that can be consumed raw or roasted. They can be added to salads, sprinkled on top of hummus, and mashed together as part of pesto and other sauces.
Pine nuts are grown largely in the Northern Hemisphere in Asia, Europe, and North America and are also known as pinyon, pignoli, pignolia, pinon, and pignon.
Promote heart health
Elevations in low-density lipoproteins (LDL), also known as “bad” cholesterol, in the bloodstream may raise the risk of heart disease. A polyunsaturated fatty acid found only in pine nut oil is called pinolenic acid. Pinolenic acid may help decrease LDL cholesterol levels in the blood. Research on rats suggests that pinolenic acid increases the amount of low-density lipoprotein (LDL) that the liver absorbs and metabolizes from the blood.
May improve blood sugar levels
Consuming pine nut extract may help lower fasting blood glucose levels, according to research on animals. Blood sugar levels may be improved by substituting unsaturated fats, like those in pine nuts, for a meal high in carbohydrates.
