Pine Nuts

[dreamaker]

Does anyone harvest pine nuts?? Or know how to harvest them?

[Rams]

Does anyone harvest pine nuts?? Or know how to harvest them?

Nope, before finding the video below, I assumed, well never mind what I assumed.    

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uEvZPtxHlzQ

Who Knew????

[Jess from VA]

Careful, the squirrels will get you. 

[The emperor has no clothes]

Where's Eull Gibbons when you need him ?

[dreamaker]

Eull left us about a zillion years ago, You guys aren't kidding about the squirrels, man!!  They are smarter than me! How all this started, I went to the vitamin store to get some stuff and seen on the shelf a bag of organic pine nuts.  Always heard people eating them and putting them in salads, so I bought them thinking they would taste like pine needles. Not even close! They were great! The problem is, they cost an arm, a leg, two fingers and a thumb.  So that was the reason I decided to go bicycle riding, I must have found at least 300 cones and didn't find one pine nut.  So I figured I was doing something wrong. I thought there was a season for them, I did see that video before, man those cones were huge. Thanks for the help!!!!

[grandpaweaver]

We have several trees in our neighborhood over 80 feet high so I went over to the neighbors yard thinking I'd try some nuts after reading your post. Guess big trees don't necessarily have big cones and I think the squirrels beat me to the nuts. Or I ain't doing it right.

[hubcapsc]

I googled around after this thread popped up... I was thinking the same as you...
but in the US, it is the Pinyon pines out west that have the big nuts...



-Mike

[dreamaker]

I googled around after this thread popped up... I was thinking the same as you...
but in the US, it is the Pinyon pines out west that have the big nuts...



-Mike

I didn't find anything close to that picture, also what I read, all pine nuts are edible, but very in size. Also forgot to mention, when I bought those pine nut at the health food store, they were distributed by a major health food company.  After, I got them home I was relaxing and read the label on the back and at the bottom it said "Product of China" I almost lost it!!!! Sent an email the the health food company asking what the deal was, no reply yet.  So if you buy some read the label first.

[hubcapsc]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pine_nut

China's one of the main places where pine cones are big enough to mess with, shouldn't be
a problem.

It appears they're mostly all good, but maybe you'd have to go after our eastern ones
with tweezers...

-Mike

[dreamaker]

Sorry, I have issues when it comes to China product, I don't trust them, they don't follow the rules, they have their own rules.  Were I live there zillion pines around here. I'm sure there are some Asian around some were. Interesting thing, I asked a few people if I could go on their property, so I didn't get a 10 gauge enema, to check out the cones. I explained what I was looking for and they had no idea it existed. It just a fun thing to do, I'm sure there were some kind of Johnny Apple Seed types out here and planted some exotic pines some where.  Funny thing, I just looked out the window a moment ago and seen a squirrel propped up nibbling on something looking at me like he is say"Guess what I am Nibbling on"

[0leman]

Not a pine nut expert but did work in the woods for 30 years of my gov life.   Pinion pine nuts are the best of the US pine nuts.   The rest don't taste very good, kind of bitter and as mentioned above kind of small.  Most of the pine seeds fall out of the cones before the cones leave the tree.   These seeds have sort of a wing attached to help the nut "fly" away from the tree.

Pinion pines grow mostly in the western CO and Northern NV.  It is fairly big local industry collection the nuts for sale.  The pickers generally lay tarps on the ground and try to shake the trees a bit to get the nuts/seeds to fall. 

Not sure what species the China pine seeds come from.  But would also be kind of leary of the them.

[dreamaker]

Just got a reply from the health food company about the China nuts, they the  species was Pinus koraiensis, and they are all certified by the USDA NOP standards. Well that went over my head!! I find foraging interesting, seems there is a whole bunch of stuff out there that is good eating and the best part is, it is free. Would like to get into mushroom hunting, but in my opinion it is an art and a science. I would not go hunting through info. off the Internet, I would think that should be hand on, one on one training. From what I have read, there are bad mushrooms that mimic as good mushroom, you pick the wrong ones, you could end up wearing tie dye shirts or end up eating your last mushroom.  Lot of people didn't know you can eat dandelions, flowers make tea, greens are like spinach and the roots can be toasted and made into like a coffee. Cat tails and milk weed can also be eaten, you heard of chicory, that plant is all over the place. In case you didn't know chicory was used as a substitute for coffee during the war, because the coffee shipment were cut off.  I just think it is interesting things to know, maybe some day when one is camping one could have a need for it. You never know.  By the way!!! I wouldn't eat any dandelions off peoples lawns, specially if the have companies spray them, just a thought, but it would seem logical that the person with the worst looking lawn would be the safest to use. LOL

[Chrisj CMA]

I agree with the DO NOT EAT ANYTHING THAT CAME FROM CHINA rule.  I wont buy any dog food that says from China either

[hubcapsc]

I agree with the DO NOT EAT ANYTHING THAT CAME FROM CHINA rule.  I wont buy any dog food that says from China either

Great gobs of our medicine, especially generics, come from there. And stuff like aspirin.

As best as I can tell, BC powders were invented in Tennessee, and still made there 

-Mike

[Fathertime]

Bunch of chickens.
I'll go there.

First, find a mature pine tree....