Pine nut
Pinus pinea
Seeds of certain pines (Italian stone pine and others). Slow trees, expensive nuts. Some imported species have been associated with ‘pine mouth’ taste disturbance — a known food-quality issue, not a nutrient.
GROW → HARVEST → EAT → DRY → POWDER → CAPSULE → GUMMY — forms are not equivalent. Food first.
Identity
Also called: pignoli
What it is
Seeds of certain pines (Italian stone pine and others). Slow trees, expensive nuts. Some imported species have been associated with ‘pine mouth’ taste disturbance — a known food-quality issue, not a nutrient.
Edible portions
- seeds
Absence of a portion from this list means it is not treated as food here — not that every other part is toxic.
Growing
- Climate. 8–10 for P. pinea; other species vary
- Light. Full sun
- Soil. Well-drained
- Planting. A long-term tree, not a garden annual.
- Harvest. Cones; extract seeds — labor is why they cost.
Processing, drying, storage
- Storage. High oil: freeze. See also Make → Storage.
Preparation and culinary uses
- Pesto, toasting
Nutrition and compounds
- Minerals (qualitative). magnesium, protein — look up current USDA FoodData Central entries for numbers.
AAA interpretation Food first. These associations explain why a plant shows up in a nutrient conversation — they are not a supplement shopping list.
Next steps
Sources
- USDA PLANTS Database — taxonomy and range (verify current entries)
- USDA FoodData Central — nutrient profiles for foods (verify current entries; this page does not invent milligrams)
- State cooperative extension growing guides — verify for your region
Honest incompleteness is preferred to fabricated completeness. If a section is missing, no record for it is attached here — not a claim that the plant lacks that characteristic, and not that it was omitted as a secret.
Internal quality class A. Strong page: distinctive plant facts plus practical growing or kitchen use.