How to properly store pine nuts at home

Pine nuts are widely known for their health benefits. They provide the human body with vitamins of group B, A, P, C, E, as well as manganese, iron, magnesium, phosphorus, zinc, copper. Boron and tryptophan levels help to increase physical endurance and promote good sleep, and a small amount of nuts satisfy the daily protein requirement of a person. Healthy, tasty and nutritious, pine nuts should be present in the daily diet.... A small portion of it in a salad or dessert will saturate the body with useful substances and help maintain health. Let's take a closer look at how to store this useful product for the winter at home.

How long are pine nuts stored?

Pine nuts do not have a long shelf life. This is due to the chemical composition, a significant proportion of which are vegetable fats. If the storage conditions are not observed, the fats change their properties, imparting rancidity to the taste of the nut.... Mold and loss of characteristic aftertaste are also signs of spoiled food, i.e. the terms and conditions of storage of this valuable and rather expensive product were violated.

It should be noted that pine nut is a nut only conditionally. This name stuck in cooking. So in the minds of the consumer, the opinion that all nuts have a long shelf life has been fixed. Pine nut is the seeds of the Siberian pine pine, well protected from external damage by a strong shell and hidden in the cone.... Being under such protection, nuts do not lose their nutritional and beneficial properties within six months, in a peeled form, the shelf life is reduced to 2-3 months, subject to certain rules.

Signs of violation of the terms and conditions of storage can be a change in the color of the kernel, the presence of mildew or dark spots on the grains. The taste qualities of pine nuts change dramatically - the taste first becomes more sour, and then rancid and sharp.

Choosing pine nuts for storage

Pine nuts are best consumed in small portions. This will be beneficial for health (the valuable properties of pine nuts are absorbed in the human body by 99%), and will not make you think about long-term storage of large volumes. The choice of nuts for eating has some peculiarities. - the nut should not be excessively dry, sprinkled with powder (stabilizer) or stay in a bright room for a long time.

When there is a need to preserve large quantities of nuts, worth paying attention to the raw material - it is important how all the components look like - cones, shells, pine nut kernel. The origin of the product also plays a role - nuts from the Siberian taiga are better preserved. It is worth taking a closer look at Chinese nuts - among them there are often modified or spoiled samples.

Preparing how to extract and store a nut at home

This stage ensures good preservation of the product and allows you to weed out those nuts that, for some reason, raise doubts about their quality.

Nuts are freed from the cones (how to do this, shown in the video below), sprinkle a thin layer on a dry and flat surfaceb (thick cloth or baking sheet) and dry for several days. Under natural conditions, it is possible to use the heat of a stove or fire, which will speed up the drying process.

Overdrying negatively affects the quality of the product, therefore drying must be constantly monitored - stir, remove dubious nuts.

Cones storage

Formation of the most natural conditions for storing pine cones, allows you to keep them as long as possible. This is the best way to store nuts.

The buds should not be wrinkled or damaged. The integrity of the cone also means the integrity of the nuts themselves. Crumpled and damp buds will not be stored and should be sampled from all buds, peel off the damaged area and try to dry whole good nuts.

A dry, cool room is the best option for storing buds. It is necessary to free them from foliage or needles, if such stuck to them when collecting from the ground, pack the cones in bags made of natural fabric (canvas, linen) in several pieces, carefully tie, remove out of the reach of rodents.

In an apartment, it is possible to store cones in the refrigerator. The maximum storage time for nuts in this form is 6 monthin.

Storing In-Shell Pine Nuts

Inshell nuts also require selection and special storage conditions. When selecting seeds, you should pay attention to the integrity of the shell, make sure that there are no spoiled, moldy nuts among them.

The product is placed in special gas-permeable bags, ceramic containers or glass jars, protected from light and moisture. Tightly closed and inspected periodically, these nuts will last for 2-3 months... A dry, cool room (pantry or refrigerator door) is recommended as a storage place.

Storing shelled nuts

How to peel pine nuts for those who need them in large quantities? After all, it is not recommended to buy hardened kernels.

There are several ways to extract pine nutsat home, here are a few:

• Soak nuts in water for 12-24 hours... The shell becomes softer.
• Can pour boiling water for a few minutes (5-10 minutes) and then it is easier to heat them.
• To facilitate the cleaning process, they are often recommended. fry in a pan or roast in the oven at a temperature of 110-120 ° C for 2-3 minutes (while you should try them). In this case, you do not need to add any fat, it is useless here.
• Another option similar to the previous one. Heat nuts in a skillet or oven (2-3 minutes at t = 110-120 ° C) and then immediately pour the hot nuts into a bowl with very cold water (it is advisable to throw ice into the water so that it is ice cold). Due to the temperature and pressure drop, the shell of the nuts cracks.

Pine nuts are often found in stores or markets in this form. It would be most correct to eat the peeled nut right away, since it has most likely been stored for some time..

Peeled for storage, the nuts should be light, uniform and dense, with a black dot at the top.Nuts that are too wet will not be stored, and excessively dry nuts have likely been stored for a long time or have been sprinkled with powdered stabilizer. This significantly reduces the beneficial properties of pine kernels and increases the risk of getting a product that has lost its valuable useful and taste properties.

Nuts are stored only in a tightly closed container, without contact with moisture (the storage container should be dry, like the raw materials), air and light. The storage place is only the refrigerator compartment. Subject to all conditions, the nuts will not lose their nutritional and healing properties during 2-3 months.

All kinds of pine nuts can be stored in the freezer in a tightly closed container. A peeled nut retains its properties in such conditions for six months, in a cone - up to a year... When storing in the freezer, attention should be paid to the tightness of the container in which the product is stored.

Roasted nuts and their storage

Pine nuts do not retain their useful properties when frying, however, their taste is revealed even more with this option of heat treatment. Frying is carried out in a dry frying pan without oil, over low or medium heat with constant stirring and control... The fatty substances found in nuts will become a natural base for roasting. The product prepared in this way is immediately eaten and is not stored, since its fatty base has already been transformed due to heating.

The closer pine nuts are to the place of growth and to the time of their ripening, the more beneficial their use. Properly preserved pine nuts will delight you with their rich aroma, excellent taste, and beneficial properties. If you plan to use the product as a raw material for the preparation of oils, recipes for traditional medicine, then the storage conditions must also be strictly observed. Improper storage conditions can lead to the development of mold and rancidity., because by their origin they are cedar seeds, and not nuts, which withstand longer aging periods.