Making pesto to freeze. does anyone have a good source for several cups of pine nuts (pignoli)?
Are you looking for true pignoli (Mediterranean pine nuts) or pine nuts from anywhere, including Russia, VIetnam, China, or Korea? The latter are available more readily - I can’t eat them, as I get Pine Mouth. I end up buying true pignoli nuts from Amazon and use them sparingly.
Try these sites/locations - check the back of the bags for their origin (if they note where they are harvested - if they don’t, expect them to be from one of those 4 countries):
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I live in an area where pine nuts are nearly impossible to source. I have found chopped Marcona almonds to be a decent substitute.
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I got pine mouth once about 15 years ago from pine nuts from Trader Joe’s and it affected me so severely I basically stopped buying pine nuts entirely. I thought something was dreadfully wrong with me until I figured it out. Ugh.
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these responses are so interesting, thank you. i’ve decided to freeze a sort of pistou (no nuts) and then add whatever fine pine nuts are available at the time of cooking or to use with a substitute nut or no nut at all.
i did find that Costco has 1 1/2 pounds available for a little over $27, but as i don’t know the type of pine nut i will stay away. i have seen some really lovely pine nuts at Super Vanak (persian store) in Belmont.
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Do you know where the Super Vanak pine nuts are from? I am overdue for a visit to Belmont and Watertown markets.
Do you and @LindaWhit have to avoid pesto in restaurants because of the uncertainty over the provenance of the pine nuts?
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i do not know where the Vanak pine nuts are from, but they are the big, long ones.
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No country of origin? They might be able to find out for you, if it’s not on the bag.
Yeah, I do, unless it says the pesto is made from walnuts or pistachios (which is what I now use to make pesto at home). I’d be REAL surprised if a restaurant is buying the specific Mediterranean pignolis to make pesto.
Might take too long for your purposes, but if you want amazing guaranteed-US-produced pine nuts, maybe consider New Mexico piñon. They’re lovely. Not as sweet as Italian pine nuts, but complex and delicious. Because the pine cones take a long time to mature here in the desert, the nuts have a deeper flavor than in places with more water and richer soil.
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Just a tip in case you haven’t done this before: Make sure to blanch the basil first or after a couple of months you’ll find yourself with frozen blobs in a very, very unappetizing brown shade. Learned that one the hard way.
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I haven’t been, and I am not sure what the threshhold for pine mouth is but have not experienced it again. I suspect being an expensive ingredient, they are often used sparingly. I also understood that not every batch or kind of non-Mediterranean pine nut will cause it, so have been rolling the dice so to speak.
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Same with me. I think I discovered I would get it when I had toasted a larger-than-needed handful of pine nuts, and when I didn’t need the rest for whatever recipe, I ate them out of hand. So it was definitely more than usual in a short time frame (maybe a 1/2 or 2/3 cup’s worth over a couple of days?). Thankfully, it only lasted 4 days for me before I began to taste things as they’re supposed to taste. But I never want to experience that metallic taste for everything (including water!) again.
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Wow, didn’t know that was a thing! Now I’ll be more mindful when I’m eating pine nuts. I don’t use it that often, but I have done the same where if I’ve toasted more than I need, I pop them in my mouth like a small bowl of snacks afterwards. For what it’s worth, I do use the Costco pine nuts and have not had issues (yet). Maybe I’m lucky. I’m quite certain they do source their pine nuts from China.
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You may not have the gene (or whatever causes Pine Mouth!). I guess it’s from a specific tree - Pinus armandii, also known as Chinese white pine, is a species of pine native to China and Myanmar.
But Russian, Vietnamese, and Korean pine nuts have also caused the reaction. It’s not fun!
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country of origin was labeled Afghanistan. these pine nuts were long and of a more uniform lickness than any orhers i have seen. Nice, strong flavor. expensive.
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I had pine mouth from Kirkland pine nuts about 15 years ago.
I buy my pine nuts here in Canada at Italian or Greek specialty shops. I haven’t had any issues. I buy small amounts and keep them in the freezer.
The big bags of pine nuts were sometimes being sourced in China and I think at one point, some dubious suppliers were using pine nuts from the wrong type of pine tree 10 to 15 years ago. I even had a pine nut gelato around 2008, that seemed to have been made with the crappy type of pine nuts.
