// Workers AI · dad joke modeWhat did the conifer nut say? I'm pining for attention.

Conifer nuts are the edible seeds of conifers. The most notable of these are pine nuts (family Pinaceae), but also include Araucaria nuts (family Araucariaceae) and Torreya nuts (Family Taxaceae). If gnetophytes are nested within the conifers, this group would also include melinjo (Gnetum gnemon) nuts and the seeds of other Gnetum species. As all come from gymnosperms, these are only nuts in a culinary sense, not in a botanical sense.^[1]^[2]^[3]

Pine nuts

Shelled European pine (Pinus pinea) nuts

Shelled Korean pine (Pinus koraiensis) nuts

Pine nuts, also called piñón (Spanish: [piˈɲon]), pinoli (Italian: [piˈnɔːli]), or pignoli, are the edible seeds of pines (family Pinaceae, genus Pinus). According to the Food and Agriculture Organization, only 29 species provide edible nuts, while 20 are traded locally or internationally^[4] owing to their seed size being large enough to be worth harvesting; in other pines, the seeds are also edible but are too small to be of notable value as human food.^[4]^[5]^[6]^[7] The biggest exporters of pine nuts are China, Russia, North Korea, and Pakistan.^[8]

As pines are gymnosperms, not angiosperms (flowering plants), pine nuts are not "true nuts"; they are not botanical fruits, the seed not being enclosed in an ovary which develops into the fruit, but simply bare seeds—"gymnosperm" meaning literally "naked seed" (from Ancient Greek: γυμνός, romanized: gymnos, lit. 'naked' and σπέρμα, sperma, 'seed'). The similarity of pine nuts to some angiosperm fruits is an example of convergent evolution.

Araucaria nuts

The edible large seeds of A. araucana, A. angustifolia and A. bidwillii — also known as Araucaria nuts,^[9] and often called, although improperly, pine nuts — are eaten as food, particularly among the Mapuche people of Chile and southwest Argentina, the Kaingang people in Southern Brazil and among Indigenous Australians.^[10] In South America, Araucaria nuts or seeds are called piñas or piñones in Spanish and pinhões in Portuguese, like pine nuts in Europe.

Torreya nuts

Torreya grandis, Torreya nucifera, Torreya californica, Torreya taxifolia (edible but not typically eaten due to being critically endangered)

Gnetum nuts

Gnetum gnemon, Gnetum africanum, Gnetum macrostachyum, Gnetum edule

References

↑ Derek Bewley, J.; Black, Michael; Halmer, Peter (2006). The Encyclopedia of Seeds: Science, Technology and Uses. ISBN 9780851997230. Retrieved 2015-07-24. Many pine species bear edible nuts: the best known is the Mediterranean stone pine, Pinus pinea. Other nuts that were locally used, and are now traded, include Pinus edulis, in the southeast USA, and P. koraiensis in China. The similar nuts of another conifer, the monkey puzzle tree, Araucaria araucana, are collected in Chile.
↑ The Visual Food Encyclopedia. Québec Amerique. 1996. ISBN 9782764408988. Retrieved 2015-07-24. Araucaria nuts are most commonly eaten cooked...
↑ Black, Michael; Pritchard, H. W. (May 2002). Desiccation and Survival in Plants: Drying Without Dying. ISBN 9780851997193. Retrieved 2015-07-24.
1 2 Awan, Hafiz Umair Masood; Pettenella, Davide (2017). "Pine Nuts: A Review of Recent Sanitary Conditions and Market Development". Forests. 8 (10): 367. Bibcode:2017Fore....8..367A. doi:10.3390/f8100367. hdl:10138/228885.
↑ Farjon, A (2005). Pines. Drawings and descriptions of the genus Pinus. Koninklijke Brill. ISBN 978-90-04-13916-9.^{[page needed]}
↑ Lanner, RM (1981). The Piñon Pine. A Natural and Cultural History. University of Nevada Press. ISBN 978-0-87417-066-5.^{[page needed]}
↑ Lanner, RM (1981). Made for Each Other. A Symbiosys of Birds and Pines. Oxford University Press (OUP). ISBN 978-0-19-508903-5.^{[page needed]}
↑ "Why are pine nuts so expensive? 4 reasons a small bag costs so much". TODAY.com. 2020-10-23. Retrieved 2024-04-18.
↑ Québec Amerique, ed. (1996). "Pine nut". The Visual Food Encyclopedia. p. 280. ISBN 9782764408988.
↑ Christopher J. Earle (12 December 2010). "Araucaria Jussieu 1789". The Gymnosperm Database. Retrieved 13 November 2011.

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[1] Derek Bewley, J.; Black, Michael; Halmer, Peter (2006). The Encyclopedia of Seeds: Science, Technology and Uses. ISBN 9780851997230. Retrieved 2015-07-24. Many pine species bear edible nuts: the best known is the Mediterranean stone pine, Pinus pinea. Other nuts that were locally used, and are now traded, include Pinus edulis, in the southeast USA, and P. koraiensis in China. The similar nuts of another conifer, the monkey puzzle tree, Araucaria araucana, are collected in Chile.

[2] The Visual Food Encyclopedia. Québec Amerique. 1996. ISBN 9782764408988. Retrieved 2015-07-24. Araucaria nuts are most commonly eaten cooked...

[3] Black, Michael; Pritchard, H. W. (May 2002). Desiccation and Survival in Plants: Drying Without Dying. ISBN 9780851997193. Retrieved 2015-07-24.

[Pine_nut_:0-4] 1 2 Awan, Hafiz Umair Masood; Pettenella, Davide (2017). "Pine Nuts: A Review of Recent Sanitary Conditions and Market Development". Forests. 8 (10): 367. Bibcode:2017Fore....8..367A. doi:10.3390/f8100367. hdl:10138/228885.

[Pine_nut_farjon-5] Farjon, A (2005). Pines. Drawings and descriptions of the genus Pinus. Koninklijke Brill. ISBN 978-90-04-13916-9.^{[page needed]}

[Pine_nut_lanner1-6] Lanner, RM (1981). The Piñon Pine. A Natural and Cultural History. University of Nevada Press. ISBN 978-0-87417-066-5.^{[page needed]}

[Pine_nut_lanner2-7] Lanner, RM (1981). Made for Each Other. A Symbiosys of Birds and Pines. Oxford University Press (OUP). ISBN 978-0-19-508903-5.^{[page needed]}

[8] "Why are pine nuts so expensive? 4 reasons a small bag costs so much". TODAY.com. 2020-10-23. Retrieved 2024-04-18.

[9] Québec Amerique, ed. (1996). "Pine nut". The Visual Food Encyclopedia. p. 280. ISBN 9782764408988.

[Araucaria_gymdb-10] Christopher J. Earle (12 December 2010). "Araucaria Jussieu 1789". The Gymnosperm Database. Retrieved 13 November 2011.

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