Pine nut

Pinus pinea / Pinus koraiensis · Nut

40 pairings

Pine nuts are the small, soft, ivory seeds extracted from the woody cones of certain pine trees — buttery, faintly sweet and resinous, with a delicate piney-woody note that makes them the heart of Italian pesto and a fixture of Mediterranean and Middle Eastern cooking. Painstaking to harvest and shell, they are among the most expensive nuts in the world.

Picking a good onedrag

Ivory, waxy, resinousStale, then rancid

Sound and waxyToast lightly, fold through pilaf, stuffings and baklava. A metallic taste starting a day later is pine mouth - it fades on its own and does not mean the nuts were spoiled.Everyday best

The kernelCream still and sound, but matte, the sheen gone off it

Break oneFirm still, the broken face a shade duller and softer

SmellMild and oily, the pine note faded nearly out

What to look for, from ivory, waxy, resinous to stale, then rancid.

Preparing