What is Pine nut?
[[File:Pinoli.jpg|thumb|right|220px|Shelled European pine nuts (''Pinus pinea'')]] [[File:Shelled pine nuts.jpg|thumb|right|220px|Shelled Korean pine nuts (''Pinus koraiensis'')]] [[File:StonePine.jpg|thumb|right|220px|Stone Pine [[Conifer cone|cone]] with pine nuts — note two nuts under each cone scale]] '''Pine nuts''' are the edible [[seed]]s of [[pine]]s (family [[Pinaceae]], genus ''Pinus''). About 20 species of pine produce seeds large enough to be worth harvesting. Other pines have edible seeds too small to be useful as a human food.<ref name=farjon>{{cite book |author=Farjon A |title=Pines: drawings and descriptions of the genus Pinus |url=https://archive.org/details/pinesdrawingsdes0000farj |publisher=Koninklijke Brill |year=2005 |isbn=90-04-13916-8 }}</ref><ref name=lanner1>{{cite book |author=Lanner RM |title=The Piñon Pine: a natural and cultural history |url=https://archive.org/details/pinonpinenatural0000harr |publisher=University of Nevada Press |year=1981 |isbn=0-87417-066-4 }}</ref><ref name=lanner2>{{cite book |author=Lanner RM |title=Made for each other. a symbiosis of birds and pines |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=1981 |isbn=0-19-508903-0 }}</ref> Pine nuts have been eaten in Europe and Asia since the [[Paleolithic]] period. They are often added to [[meat]], [[fish]], [[salads]] and [[vegetable]] dishes or [[baking|baked]] into [[bread]]. In Italian they are called ''pinoli''. They are an essential part of Italian [[pesto]] [[sauce]]. Pine nuts can be pressed to extract pine nut [[oil]], which is valued for its mild, nutty flavour. The large edible seeds of the [[Southern Hemisphere]] [[conifer]] [[genus]] ''[[Araucaria]]'' produce nuts rather like pine nuts. == References == {{reflist}} ==Other websites== {{commons cat-inline|Pinus seeds}} [[Category:Edible nuts and seeds]]