Recipes | Interesting Facts | Trivia 
  Edible Nuts of the World  | Nutritional Facts

Pine Nuts

Pinyons or pinaceae is the genus

There are about 80- diferent pines in the world, mostly distributed in the northern hemisphere.

 

The pine bears seeds in cones.  Among the most familiar pines in this country are the eastern WHITE PINE, the LONGLEAF or YELLOW PINE of the Gulf States, the common SCRUB PINE in Virginia and the eastern seaboard, and the PONDEROSA or WESTERN YELLOW PINE in the western United States.

The cones that open upon maturity and spread their seeds are usually the female pine trees.   It can take up to 75 years for a pine tree to cone heavily.    It is a slow growing tree.  The nuts are never cultivated in orchards becasue it would take decades to establish and the yield would be low.  

Many pine nuts have a resinous or turpentiney flavor.  Also we cannot compete with small animals and birds in gathering the nuts, especially in gathering the nuts being shed from their cones that lodge in the higher parts of the trees.

For this reason, when the gathering of the nuts is a commercial enterprise - the cones are often gathered green and allowed to dry in open and protectred ground areas.  

 

Stone Pine

This is the most common pine nut found in American markets.   It is European in origina and is known under the name of the PIGNOLIA or PINE-NUT and to an increasing degree under the Mexiacn name PINION which originally was applied only to the seeds of certain American pines of the Southwest.   As marketed, these nuts appear without the shells in the markets and resemble puffed rice.

 

nuts-pine-raw.jpg (9357 bytes)
Raw Pine Nuts


Read more about the pine nut at
www.pinenut.com

 

 

 

 

Recipes | Interesting Facts | Trivia | Nutritional Facts

 

 

  
Tip of the day

learn how to temper
chocolate  by reading

Our favorite recipes

Chocolate Caramels

a thoughtful gift

2-1/2 cups sugar
1 cup corn syrup
1 cup water
1 cup light cream
1 cup butter 2 sticks)
3 squares unsweetened chocolate
1-1/2 oz piece parafin cut into small pieces (1-1/2" squares)

Combine all ingredients into a 4 quart heavy saucepan.  Stir and cook over medium heat until sugar is dissolved and butter and parafin are melted.  reduce heat to low, stir occasionally, until mixture reaches 240 degrees. (about 40 minutes)

Continue stirring continuously and vigorously to prevent scourching, to a firm ball stage. (248 degrees).  (another 20 minutes)

Remove from heat and pour into a lightly buttered 9" square pan.   When candy gets firm, mark into 3/4" strips with a knife.  When candy is cool and firm (about 3 hours) cut into strips, remove strips from pan, and cut into squares.  wrap individually with waxed paper.  Makes about 120 caramels or 2-1/2 pounds.

More recipes

Little known facts

Caramel and Butterscotch are made in similar ways to toffee, as is fudge. The difference is in the degree of boiling temperature and the ways in which they are cooled. This whole process uses high-heat to convert sugar. Crystallization, graininess, and whether it is brittle or smooth are simply variations of this process.

more about candy

Half a century of fun

The Nut Factory started in 1952 as a roaster of peanuts. We are located in Spokane, Washington. Over the years The Nut Factory has grown into a large snack food manufacturer. We ship over 400 product every day to businesses everywhere throughout the United States.

Our history

Other interesting web sites

The Cook's Thesaurus Has Substitutions for Thousands of Ingredients

Copycat Recipes Recipe Knock-offs from Famous Restaurants

More links

Nut and Snack Commodity Market

Here is a wonderful Nut Crop information site.

This site is loaded with walnut facts.

xy