[Sca-cooks] Shelling pine nuts

[Stefan li Rous]

Anne asked:
<<< While driving through New Mexico I purchased two bags of unshelled  
pine nuts. I'm asking if anyone know a good way to shell them 'in  
mass'? It'd take forever one at the time. >>>

That's what children and apprentices are for...

No children or apprentices around? See various suggestions on shelling  
pine nuts in this file in the FOOD section of the Florilegium. There's  
also a bunch of other information on pine nuts and pine nut  
substitutions in this file.

nuts-msg         (134K)  1/ 7/08    Nuts, acorns, nut flours in  
medieval foods.
http://www.florilegium.org/files/FOOD/nuts-msg.html

==========
I always thought they came from Italy and from Utah.  My brother
used to live in Utah and there was someone who had a pine nut business  
and
sold them for $2 a pound.  They were still in the shells but the shells
were very thin, and if you put them in the microwave for a certain  
amount
of time the shells would pop off without hurting the nuts.  You had to
throw the container you popped them in out--it had what amounted to  
shell
tar on it, but it worked well.

         Angeline
==========
 > I've heard that you can use heat to
 > force the cones open, but I'm not sure exactly how you would do that.
 >
 > Noemi

I had one open up over a couple years just sitting on my desk.

You can probably get them to open a little quicker by wrapping them  
loosely
in foil, and warming them in an oven at low temperature.

Bear
===========
 > Maybe this is another time when you could use a microwave.  I  
wouldn't do
 > it on full power, maybe 50 %?
 >
 > Just a thought, since you can get the seeds to pop open.
 >
 > Angeline

AK!!!  Umm, don't do it.  I have seen some of them pop open, and that
would be bad.  Also, the resin won't be happy about coming off of  
anything
it splatters on.

Bogdan
============

Okay, several options and opposing opinions. Hey, I didn't say there  
was *one* solution. Afterall, these came from this list.

Another bit of useful info:
==============
At 09:08 PM 02/06/98 EDT, Meghan wrote:
 >Has anyone tried storing freshly purchased pine nuts bought in  
quantity in the
 >freezer? I've had occasion to find them at very good prices, and I'd  
love to
 >know if anyone else has found success with this. I'm curious if the  
natural
 >oils in the nuts would cause them to freeze badly or get mushy.

Yes indeed! They store very well in the freezer and it stops the oil  
in the
nuts going rancid. They defrost beatifully. This is recommended for  
all nuts
and seeds and "high qual" suppliers always store them this way.

Rowan
===============

Stefan
--------
THLord Stefan li Rous    Barony of Bryn Gwlad    Kingdom of Ansteorra
    Mark S. Harris           Austin, Texas          StefanliRous at austin.rr.com
**** See Stefan's Florilegium files at:  http://www.florilegium.org ****