Pignolias?

South of Rome, Italy:  early June

While tooling along in our bus, on our way to La Landriana, we had to
slow to a creep because half the highway was blocked off with red tape.
As we edged by we saw a crew working the trees (Pinus pinea) on that
side. One man was in the top of the Umbrella Pine shaking it like mad,
the rest were picking up pinecones from previously shook trees and
putting them in big bags.

Someone said, "Isn't that great? They're getting the cones down before
they fall!" After thinking about it, I said, "I think they're harvesting
pine-nuts!" Sure enough, when I got to my Sunset Western Garden Book, I
see Pinus pinea as the source of pine nuts.

Can anyone tell me how one removes the nuts from the cones? Do you have
to roast or treat them in any way to make them edible? Are the nuts from
other pines edible? as good?
They are so expensive to buy at Trader Joes!

By the by Trevor, I found Landriana quite beautiful and still in good
condition. The roses were still in bloom, but the Olive Garden looked
disheleved. The Lake was enchanting. We were not there long enough and I
found myself wishing we didn't have to follow the guide. To linger and
savor a garden slowly without too much talk is an ideal seldom realized
on a tour. Wish we'd been with Alessandra as we were at Ninfa.

Jan
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Jan Smithen,               gardening teacher
                           California Arboretum Foundation
jansmithen@earthlink.net
Sunset zone : 19
USDA zone : 10

Visit the California Arboretum homepage at :
http://www.arboretum.org/
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