By Richard Mahler Author of New Mexico s Best Pinones the delicious nuts of the pine tree are a bona fide New Mexico gourmet treat. Once they are shelled and roasted, pinon nuts make a wonderful addition to salads, sauces, candies, cookies and pestos, or can be eaten al by themselves. There s a real knack, though, for efficiently picking and preparing the tiny nuts, which have a sweetish flavor and aroma that adds a New Mexican accent to cooking. Most experienced pickers use a sheet or blanket, reports Jeff Kline, an environmental education consultant and founding secretary of the New Mexico Pinon Nut Industry Trade Council. The sheet is placed on the ground underneath a tree that is heavily laden with nuts.
Someone shakes the trunk or branches until the pinones fall out of their cones.
They are then scooped up and placed in a sack or can. Kline points out that collecting pinones costs no money and allows you to meet local people in a non-commercial way. He recommends storing raw nuts in a cool, dry place, then soaking them in water for 10 minutes before roasting them on a cookie sheet at 350 degrees for 15 to 20 minutes. Unfortunately, he sighs, there s no easy way to get them out of their shells. You can use a hammer, rolling pin or standard nutcracker.