Pine Nuts

Pine nuts are the seeds of a variety of different pine trees, such as the Stone Pine (Europe), the Korean Pine (eastern Asia) and the Colorado Pinyon (America). The European pine nuts from Italy and Spain have a far more sweet and delicate flavour than the Asian pine nut, which tends to have pungent pine taste that can become overpowering.

Mediterranean pine nuts are more commonly available in the UK, and may be combined with rice and raisins to make a rich stuffing for chicken, or mixed with prunes, dried apricots, pomegranate seeds and almonds to make khoshaf? an exotic Middle Eastern dried-fruit salad. They may also be sprinkled into salads or ground with basil, Parmesan cheese and oil to produce pesto; delicious with fresh tagliatelle or linguine.