Are Pine Nuts Good for the Body?

Most people never actually have a chance to eat pine nuts, as they are still collected from wild trees and not commercially grown. When they are sold in markets across the United States, they tend to be expensive and more of a novelty. People on the east coast may eat them only as part of in a basil pesto. They are actually quite nutritious and have been used in cooking preparations for hundreds of years.

Geography

There are four main varieties of pine nuts used as a food. There are several more trees that produce the nuts, but they are too small and bothersome for humans and are usually left for animals and birds to forage. The Mexican pinon grows in New Mexico and Texas; the Colorado pinyon grows in Colorado, Utah, New Mexico and Arizona; the Italian stone pine grows across Europe; and the Chinese white pine is native to China, Taiwan and Myanmar.

Features

Pine nuts can be either hard shelled (Mexican pinon) or soft shelled (Colorado pinion). Besides the shell, there are distinguishing characteristics between the nuts, with the stone pine variety being short and stubby while the Chinese white pine tends to be longer and thinner.

Considerations

Pine nuts are very perishable and only have a few days of shelf life. They need to be frozen if you are going to keep them for more than a week without eating and otherwise kept refrigerated at all times. If you buy pine nuts off the shelf at grocery stores, you may not realize that the nuts are probably already rancid.

Nutrients

Pine nuts have a high percentage of protein and fats, like many nuts. The protein comprises about 37 percent of the nut. The pine nut is known to be high in vitamin E, vitamin K, manganese and iron, as well as a good source of fiber, minerals and omega-6 fatty acids.

Warnings

A strange side effect of eating bad pine nuts has been noticed by a number of people. They experience a bitter taste with everything they eat after eating the bad pine nuts. The effect tends to last for several days and seems to come from the Chinese white pine variety of pine nuts.

References

• Pinon Nuts
• Nutritional Data