In one of our weekend in the mountains during the last summer we were on 'Alpe plateau Villanders (BZ) . It 'an area full of pine. The stone pine is a typical mountain plant, which grows by about 1200 meters up and produces these cones, rich in pine, which for years have been a food source for mountain people.
Plateau, under every tree we could find dozens of pine cones, so I took the opportunity to combine business with pleasure and I've collected a good supply.
At home I opened each cone with his hands and took out the casings from each timber, inside which there are the pine nuts. The shell casings to occur in this way (in the photo you see to the right of the stone pine and pine nuts left those of pine, which are the ones you find at the supermarket. Photo source Wikipedia - F. Cera).
I then put pine nuts for shelling on grids to dry, so as to allow them to dry moisture. Caution: Always put on another grid or something that prevents the birds from raiding the pine nuts, they are tempting! I have gone a lot, before realizing what had made ...
Once dry, they can be kept in glass jars or bags of paper or fabric, of course, in a cool, dry place.
And over here is the easy part. Now we come to the most difficult part, that is as peel. There are several methods, and all soooooo require patience. These methods obviously also apply to normal shell pine nuts.
Method 1: put the pine nuts for shelling overnight in warm water, drain them and put them near a heat source. It can be above the stove or in the oven, well distributed in a baking dish. The heat is strong enough, but not enough to burn or toast the pine nuts. The aim is to dry the wooden enclosure and make sure that in this case to open the cracks. At this point, opens with a nail in the blink of an eye and pine nuts will be perfectly intact, just simply remove the skins by rubbing between your fingers for a moment. If you did a good job, pine nuts are so forward in his shell:
Method 2: place the pine nuts on a hard surface, holding it vertically between two fingers. With a small hammer, give a rap. This will open a slit as above will make a perfect pine. Mind your fingers and do not overdo it with the force of the blow, otherwise your pine nut powder comes out. You may also find pine nuts in shells around the entire kitchen (if you can, do it outside).
Method 3: using the tool to crush the garlic, put in some pine nuts and press until you hear a crunch. The shell of the pine nuts would have been broken and if you have not pressed too hard, pine nuts should be fairly intact. Among all methods, this is what I think gives the worst result, though it is more immediate and faster than others. It has however the advantage that the pieces of shell are placed inside the tool.
Method 4: is a variant of method 3, and that's what we were small we used to open the shells of pine nuts. With a stone, a hard surface, giving a blow dry and then pull out the pine nuts. Even here the result is often a grain of pine nuts ... It 's the method to use to involve children, as it is recommended to do it outside in order to avoid having bits of shell everywhere.
And here is the final result, after all this work. The pine seeds of stone pine are rounder and less elongated than those of pine, and the taste is more "wild", resinous.
I use them normally, strudel, to make pesto sauce or some particular. And given the price of pine nuts at the supermarket, I would say that is also a great saving!
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