How to Gather Pine Nuts
When autumn leaves crunch under foot, spend some time in the woods harvesting pine nuts. Find pine nuts, also called pinon -- pronounced pinyon -- nuts, in the Great Basin, an enormous area extending into six western states. Gather pine nuts from unopened pine cones or knock the nuts free from ripe cones, according to Liston Pine Nuts, a pine nut harvesting website. Use pine nuts in salads and in a host of other recipes. Does this Spark an idea?
Instructions
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Collect pine nuts for personal use. Apply for a permit with the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) field office in your state if you plan to pick more than 25 pounds of pine nuts.
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Gather pine nuts on slopes overlooking the Great Basin valley floor. According to the BLM, pine nut crops are irregular. Depend on good pine nut picking anywhere from every three to seven years.
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Collect unopened pine cones wearing gloves to protect your hands from pine sap. Protect your hair from sap with a hat or a scarf. Climb a ladder and pick the cones. Or knock pine nuts loose from opened cones. Collect the fallen nuts on a tarp on the ground.
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Place unopened cones in a burlap sack. Lay the sack in the sun for four or five days, turning the sack to expose all sides to the sun.
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Shake the sack to free the nuts from the opened cones. Sift the nuts on a screen to remove the chaff from the nuts.
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Tips & Warnings
When applying for a permit in a region with commercial competition, you will bid for a permit at fair market value.
Use cooking oil to clean pine sap from your hands.
Never break pine tree limbs. It is unnecessary for gathering pine cones and jeopardizes the tree's reproductive capacity, warns the BLM.
References
Resources
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