How to properly peel pine nuts?

Pine nuts are not only tasty, but also a very healthy product that contains many vitamins and microelements, and decoctions, flour, tinctures and other nut products are used in cosmetology and folk medicine. But many people do not know how to peel pine nuts and prefer not to deal with this product just because of this.

We crack the shell with our teeth

Of course, it is not a good idea to recommend cracking nuts with your teeth, because there is always a risk of damaging the enamel. Therefore, you can resort to this method only at your own peril. How to peel nuts with minimal chance of damaging your teeth? They should be split in the most vulnerable place - in the middle, and done slowly and smoothly.

This can only be done with healthy teeth without holes or fillings. It must be remembered that if a nerve has previously been removed from a tooth, it becomes especially fragile and does not need any extra stress.

Pine nuts are a very high-calorie product, and you won’t be able to eat a lot of them at once. And, of course, you can peel a small number of nuts with your teeth for a snack. But what to do if you need a much larger quantity, for example, for some dish on the holiday table?

other methods

The shells of pine nuts remain quite strong at temperatures close to room temperature. But strong heating or, conversely, cooling can make it fragile.

1. The nuts need to be placed in the freezer for at least a few hours to ensure they cool evenly.Then, without directly removing them from the bag (so that the shells do not fly apart in all directions), they should be carefully crushed with a rolling pin. Do not apply too much force, otherwise the kernels will crack along with the shell. An important point is that after freezing, nuts are not stored and must be consumed quickly.
2. Pour the nuts into the frying pan without adding any oil and heat, stirring occasionally, for 15-20 minutes. Or instead, pour them in a thin layer on a baking sheet and place them in the oven for a few minutes, preheated to 100-120 degrees. Sometimes, when heated, the shell bursts on its own, and all that remains is to get the nut grains. But even if it remains intact, it can now be easily split with your fingers.
3. The previous method can be improved - after heating, quickly pour the nuts into a container with very cold water, you can even add ice cubes there.

Like many other seeds, nuts soak well when left in liquid for a long time. It is enough to soak them in clean water for a period of half a day to a day, and cleaning them will not be difficult. But it is best to peel the husks from the nuts in a dry form - this way it will stick much less - both to the nut kernel itself and to the fingers.

If you need to peel nuts at home, you can use any available tools - pliers, garlic crusher, meat mallet, hammer.

Recommendations

Of course, the simplest solution if you want to enjoy pine nuts is to buy them in shelled form, rather than try to peel them yourself. But it’s not worth purchasing them on the market by weight, where they were stored for an unknown amount of time and in unknown conditions. The product must be packaged; you should pay attention to the integrity of the packaging, packing date and expiration date. And then the nuts will only be beneficial.

You don’t have to throw away the remains of the nut shell if you have a summer house or at least a small area. They will be an excellent tool for mulching the soil, i.e., for creating a protective layer on its surface that will prevent weathering, soil washout, and prevent the growth of weeds and the formation of dried hard crust. The soil will maintain an optimal moisture level for the plant, and temperature changes will become less noticeable.

Obviously, nut kernels retain their taste and beneficial properties much better when they are in the shell, so it is better to peel them at home shortly before they are eaten. Shelled nuts should not be stored for a long time; they acquire a rancid taste.

Extracting nuts from a cone

As a rule, pine nuts are sold already removed from the cone. But if you suddenly get your hands on whole cedar cones, then you need to know how to properly extract the seeds from there.

1. It is better to do this with gloves, so that you don’t have to try to clean your hands of resin for several days. For the same reason, it’s worth wearing clothes that you won’t feel sorry for.
2. The nuts fall out of a ripe cone very easily; there is no need to pick them out. It is enough to twist the cone in your hands, tap it on the wall of a pan or plate, and most of the seeds will pour out into the container.
3. If this happens outdoors, then the whole pine cones can be placed in the fire, as when baking potatoes. The resin burns out from the fire, and the nuts are easily removed by hand.And when you have a bucket or other large container at hand, you can boil the pine cones; boiling water will wash out all the resin from them, and the nut shells will be soft and thin.

We advise you to read the article about how to peel hazelnuts and walnuts