How To Peel Pine Nuts At Home - Different Ways To Peel These Nuts From The Shell + Photos And Videos

2024 Author: Bailey Albertson | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 12:53

How to quickly and effectively remove debris and shells from pine nuts

Pine nut is a natural product with a huge amount of vitamins and microelements. Useful pine nuts processed at specialized enterprises are indispensable raw materials for the manufacture of medical and cosmetic products. If you want to taste the taste of this unusual nut, you need to extract it from the cone, and then open the hard shell. Using several simple and effective methods, you can quickly and safely peel pine nuts at home.

Content

• 1 How to get pine nuts from a pine cone

  1.1 Video: how to quickly peel pine cones

• 2 How to remove garbage from pine nuts

  • 2.1 Peeling nuts with a sieve
  • 2.2 How easy it is to clean the product without special tools
  • 2.3 How can you clean pine nuts from debris with water

• 3 How to clean pine nuts at home

  • 3.1 Using the freezer

  • 3.2 Heating in a pan or baking sheet

    3.2.1 Video: how to peel pine nuts from the shell using the oven

  • 3.3 Soaking in hot water

    3.3.1 Video: how to peel pine nuts from the shell with boiling water

  • 3.4 Using temperature difference

  • 3.5 How to prick with devices

    3.5.1 Video: how to crack pine nuts at home

• 4 Selection and storage of pine nuts

  4.1 Video: how to choose pine nuts in the store

How to get pine nuts from a pine cone

Removing pine nuts from a cone at home is a simple procedure

If you are the owner of a large number of cones, you need to prepare two buckets, one of which will contain the husk, and the other nuts.

Cedar cone with nuts

Nuts fall out of a ripe cone on their own, but to speed up this process, you can rub or twist the cone in your hands, holding it over a bucket intended for garbage, or beat it with a hammer, putting it on a board. For one hour, working alone, you can easily clean a 12-liter bucket. The result is 2.5 liters of nuts.

Pine nut and its shell

Professional "shishkari" who do this kind of work for a good fee, use special devices for this purpose called hullers and crushers.

The device allows you to quickly extract nuts

The simplest option is a ruble, which resembles in its design a board for washing clothes. A cone is placed on the lower part of such a "grater", pressed down from above by a similar structure of a smaller size, equipped with a handle. The bump then rubs between two uneven planes, losing the precious nut.

Cedar cone cleaner

One of the devices of professional "cones", created by their own hands - mills in the form of a box, equipped with rollers. To collect nuts, cellophane or tarpaulin is spread under this device, and in some cases a bag is suspended.

Homemade pine nut cone mill

When cleaning cedar cones in nature, you can use a fire. To do this, place cones in it, as when baking potatoes. The fire will help the resin burn out, after which the nuts can be easily removed by hand.

In addition, using a large capacity container, you can boil the cones in boiling water, which will wash out the existing resin and soften the shell of the nuts.

The heat of the fire will help peel the pine nut

Video: how to quickly peel pine cones

How to remove garbage from pine nuts

In the process of extracting nuts from cones, debris and scales get into them, which can be disposed of in several ways.

Peeling nuts with a sieve

The simplest and most affordable option at home is to use a sieve or round sieve with a mesh diameter of 6 to 7 mm. After the completion of the sifting procedure through it, the nuts must be sieved again using a sieve with a mesh diameter of 3 mm. This will quickly and efficiently remove smaller debris. However, this method is not 100% effective, since a small part of the debris in the nuts still remains.

Sifting pine nuts through a sieve

How easy it is to clean a product without special tools

The second method involves carrying out manipulations in the open air or in rooms with a large area.

1. At a distance of 4–5 meters from the starting point from which the throw will be carried out, a tarp or film is spread on the ground. One part of the material is located in the form of an inclined wall.
2. Nuts are thrown onto an oblique surface with a shovel or scoop. Light debris does not reach the tarpaulin.
3. After cleaning is complete, the peeled nuts can be collected from the cover.

How can you clean pine nuts with water

Another method to get rid of the flakes is to run the nuts through water. This method is less common, but very effective, as it allows you to remove debris and, at the same time, wash the nuts.

For this purpose, a basin or any other deep dish filled with water is suitable. Nuts are poured at the bottom of the container, after which all the garbage floats to the surface of the water and can be safely drained. However, after such cleaning, the nuts become wet. For this reason, for subsequent storage, they must be well dried.

How to clean pine nuts at home

The nuts extracted from the cones have a very hard shell, which can be removed using several methods.

Some people prefer to prick them with their teeth, however, this is not a safe option, as the sharp fragments of the shell can cause injury.

Cleaning a nut with your teeth is a very unsafe activity.

Temperature differences can significantly affect the hardness of the nutshell.

Using the freezer

1. To make the shell brittle, place the nuts in the freezer for a few hours.
2. Press down gently with a rolling pin without removing from the bag. Do not apply significant force at the moment of pressing: the kernels themselves may crumble together with the shell.

You can clean the shell of a pine nut using a rolling pin.

Heating in a pan or baking sheet

The second method involves exposing the nutshell to high temperatures, as a result of which it loses strength.

1. Take a large dry skillet and sprinkle the nuts on top of it.
2. Stir for 15-20 minutes while heating.
3. Cool the heated nuts and start cracking the shell with a minimum of effort.

Roasting pine nuts in a hot skillet

You can achieve a similar effect using a baking sheet.

1. Sprinkle nuts on the baking sheet in a thin layer.
2. Place it in an oven preheated to 100-120 degrees. Within 10-20 minutes, the nutshell will crack by itself. If this does not happen, then crushing it with your fingers will not be difficult.

Pine nuts, dried on a baking sheet

Video: how to peel pine nuts from the shell using the oven

Soaking in hot water

Pine nuts soak very well in water. This property can be used to remove shells.

1. To do this, in a container of suitable size, soak the nuts in warm or hot water, leaving them to cool completely for 15-30 minutes.

2. By absorbing water, the shell becomes soft and can be easily cracked with your fingers.

   

   Boiling water softens the shell

It is necessary to split pine nuts with your fingers, holding them across. The most vulnerable spot is located in the middle, and a large share of the effort should be made there. In this case, the movements should be smooth and careful, otherwise, together with the shell, the nucleolus itself will split into two halves.

Video: how to peel pine nuts from the shell with boiling water

Using temperature difference

You can cope with hard nutshells using two processes simultaneously - heating and cooling. To do this, nuts, well heated in any way, must be quickly poured into ice-cold water - the result will not be long in coming. You can simply soak them in cold water for a day, after which the shell will be soaked to the desired state.

How to prick with devices

The simplest and most common way to peel pine nuts is to break the shell with any heavy object. You can use a hammer, pliers, heavy rolling pin, garlic press.

Peeling pine nuts with improvised means

Video: how to crack pine nuts at home

Selection and storage of pine nuts

Whichever option you choose for peeling pine nuts, remember that peeled kernels should be eaten quickly. Having lost their natural packaging, they quickly lose their freshness and may deteriorate.

Peeled nuts contain a large amount of fat, which can turn rancid if stored for a long time in a closed container. For this reason, giving preference to refined store products, make sure of the expiration date.

In addition, when purchasing peeled pine nuts by weight, it is advisable to thoroughly wash them and calcine them in a hot frying pan, which will avoid contamination with pathogens. After all, the conditions for the transportation and storage of such goods sold in the markets are very far from ideal.

Pay attention to the shelf life indicated on the packaging

Video: how to choose pine nuts in the store

By eating fresh pine nuts, you get the opportunity to provide your body with vitamins B1, B2, B3, E, in combination with fatty acids, as well as prepare medicinal infusions based on the shell. The pleasant taste of this product, which is equally useful for adults and children, will be able to add new notes to a variety of dishes, endowing them with useful properties. And with the help of simple methods, repeatedly tested in practice, the process of peeling pine nuts from the shell does not require much time and effort.