Pine Nuts. I know I see them in a lot of recipes these days. But what's the history of these things?

Pine Nuts. I know I see them in a lot of recipes these days. But what's the history of these things?

And why/how did people start eating them? Can you tell me how to roast them? Do you have any other great pine nuts recipes?

Asked by Stitch 41 months ago Similar questions: Pine Nuts lot recipes days history things Food & Drink > Cooking.

Similar questions: Pine Nuts lot recipes days history things.

Native Americans shared them! As a Medicinewoman of the Bear Clan the use of pine nuts goes as far back as tales go: The story: Courtesy of: Goods From The Woods Understand that the pine nut was to the people of the Great Basin what the buffalo was to the plains people. The nut is protein packed with all 20 amino acid and very high in concentration in 8 of the 9 amino acids necessary for growth.

The nut was a staple in the diet of all the peoples of this region. It was a life-link food with gatherings celebrations, creation stories and teachings all accompanying the yearly harvest. For in excess of 10,000 years - that is neither a mistake or an exaggeration- native american people harvested the pinon.

The Washo, the Shoshone, Paiutes, Hopi and their ancestors ate pinon nuts as a major, storable , multi -faceted food. Long before Euro-Americans entered the Great Basin, substantial numbers of people lived within the present boundaries of the Great Basin. Archaeological reconstruction suggest human habitation stretching back some 12,000 years.

The earliest known inhabitants were members of what has been termed the Desert Archaic Culture—nomadic hunter-gatherers with developed basketry, flaked-stem stone tools, and implements of wood and bone. They inhabited the region between 10,000 BC and AD 400 These peoples moved in extended family units, hunting small game and gathering the periodically abundance. The Great Basin provided small game for the Northwestern bands, but of even greater importance were the grass seeds and plant roots which grew in abundance in the valleys and along the hillsides of northern Utah.

There are probably one hundred different species of grass, in the Basin, that provide harvestable seeds. One could walk through the grass with a tray and a beating stick, emptying the tray into a burden basket, occasionally. Seeds could be stored without much treatment; eventually, they could be ground into flours.By far the most important seed to the Great Basin people was the pine nut, taken from the single-needle pinyon pine (pinus monophyllia) or the double-needle pinyon (pinus edulis); though this culture developed later in the archaic period.

The pine nut is large and an excellent food source. It is, however, relatively difficult to harvest and requires a substantial group effort to do so. The pine nut harvest began in the late summer and lasted into the fall.

It was essentially the last big food-gathering opportunity of the year Before retirement into winter lowland quarters. It occurred at intermediate elevations in arid upland hills where junipers and pinions tend to grow.It was a significant social occasion, and most Great Basin people held these regions to be sacred ground. Over the last two thousand years, the pine nut sustained these peoples.

The pine nuts required substantial processing and, then, they could be stored for later use. And utilization of pine nuts required technological innovations. While nuts can easily be picked from the ground fallen cones of the pinyon pine (pinus monophyllia), they are rarely good for human consumption by that time and the crop has been substantially reduced by insects and small mammals.

The pine nut came to be a useful staple food because only after the people learned how to harvest the nut prior to the final ripening stage of the cone. The technology for achieving a pine-nut harvest was messy and complex, and it was practiced communally. In fact, pine-nut harvest defined the great social time of the year, being the greatest gathering of the people in the concentrated areas of sacred lowland pinyon forest.

People went to the forests in the early fall before the cones had fully ripened and dropped. They began with "first fruit" celebrations that confirmed the sacred significance of the food and established their respect for the forests. When harvest began, the men pulled cones from the trees using tools made from large willow branches equipped with a sturdy V-shaped hook at the end.

Women and children piled the cones in burden baskets (usually large conical wicker baskets carried on one’s back with a cordage band across the forehead). At this point, the cones were just at the point of opening and were usually full of pine pitch. In camps surrounding the forest harvesting grounds, the pine cones were processed.

This began by roasting the pine cones around hot coals, turning them often, to cause them to open up. Then, the cones could be beaten lightly to cause the nuts to fall out. When a supply of nuts was available, these required further processing since the nuts were covered by a soft brown shell.

Cracking this shell would be difficult and would injure the fruit inside The nuts were processed by placing them on a basketry tray with hot coals from the fire. Once introduced together, the whole mass was kept in constant motion, throwing them up and swirling the tray, until the shells were roasted to a hard, crisp dark brown. The coals were removed at this point and the nuts were poured onto a grinding stone where they were lightly pounded with a mano until all of the shells had cracked and falled free of the inner fruit.

Cracked pinenuts are yellow-orange, translucent and soft. They can be eaten at this point and are delicious. Far more pine nuts were harvested than could be eaten raw so they needed to be processed further.

At this point, the nuts were returned to a winnowing tray and thrown repeatedly into the air to allow the cracked shells to be carried off by the wind. When the shells were all gone, hot coals were returned to the tray and the roasting process was repeated until the nuts were dry and hard, somewhat darker in color. At this point, the nuts could be stored in large basketry storage containers for later use.

Dried nuts could still be eaten without further processing but the usual procedure was to make a pine-nut flour by grinding them. They were returned to the grinding stone and the mano was used to pound them lightly until they were well fragmented. Grinding was achieved with small amounts quickly so that the fine flour could be pushed off the metate forward into a bowl or onto a tray.

A soap-root brush light be used to move the pine-nut flour on the tray. When enough flour was available, it could be warmed in water to make a thick paste; then the paste could be reduced, by dilution, to make whatever consistency was desired. While pine-nut mush may not sound especially appealing, addition of berries, various leafy vegetables, and/or ground meat or fish made it a feast.

We also use pine nuts in decoration and for special medicines: Blessings.........Annlee Sources: http://www.pinenut.com/history.htm Annlee's Recommendations Nine Months Plus One Day Amazon List Price: $9.99 Average Customer Rating: 5.0 out of 5 (based on 2 reviews) My newest favorite book: I am sharing it with all...Motherhood will never be viewed the same...A pro life Christian based book of a baby telling the story from conception until birth!.

It is also a good idea to keep them in the freezer unless you plan to use the quickly after purchasing them to prevent them from going bad.

I hadn't heard of them until the last 15 yrs maybe. I use them in pesto when I make it. I believe you put them in a pan and roast them without the oil added but not positive.It is also a good idea to keep them in the freezer unless you plan to use the quickly after purchasing them to prevent them from going bad.

I need some good recipes. " "I noticed several days that I KNOW things were done on my computer are not part of the history. Why is that?" "Are there any other recipes for cooking from troublemaker studios?

" "Do pine nuts actually come from pine cones/pine trees? " " OK my friends I can cook a lot of things but not Southern cooking and Hubby has taken to Southern cooking" "I am looking for your best fish recipes. Please, I need them to have no dairy products or nuts in them.

" "When cooking for guests, are you always trying something new or do you rotate the same few recipes? " "Please share your best outdoor campfire cooking recipes.

I noticed several days that I KNOW things were done on my computer are not part of the history. Why is that?

OK my friends I can cook a lot of things but not Southern cooking and Hubby has taken to Southern cooking.

I am looking for your best fish recipes. Please, I need them to have no dairy products or nuts in them.

Please share your best outdoor campfire cooking recipes.

I cant really gove you an answer,but what I can give you is a way to a solution, that is you have to find the anglde that you relate to or peaks your interest. A good paper is one that people get drawn into because it reaches them ln some way.As for me WW11 to me, I think of the holocaust and the effect it had on the survivors, their families and those who stood by and did nothing until it was too late.