Pine nut in its properties is considered one of the most useful. But meanwhile, it is very difficult to open so as not to damage the core. For a long time, several ways have been invented.
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Technological methods for freeing nuts from the shell are most often not available at home. In one method, the nuts are placed in a container and sealed. Then the atmospheric pressure in the tank for a while is increased and reduced very sharply. As a result, the shell scatters, and the kernels remain intact. This method is not cheap, and only large nut processing companies can afford it.
Manual peeling of pine nuts is too complicated and time-consuming, therefore it is better to use various devices for this.
It is believed that pine nuts cannot be cleaned with teeth, as this is ineffective and guarantees a trip to the dentist. In fact, you can learn this method. The nuts are bitten apart, while holding the nut with the thumb and forefinger. The end of the nut, which is more pointed, should look inside the palm of the hand. The front teeth squeeze the nut in the middle and across until the moment you hear a click. If everything is done correctly, the pine nut shell will split into two equal halves, in one of which the nut itself will remain. This is like peeling seeds, with the difference that the seeds bite along and often begin at the tip. In raw, unroasted nuts, the shell lends itself better to teeth than in roasted nuts.
At home, nuts are often cleaned by soaking and roasting. First, the nuts that need to be cleaned are soaked in water, and then fried, overpressure forms in the shell and it crackes. This method, despite its simplicity, should not be used, since soaking and strong heating do not affect the beneficial qualities of nuts in the best way. It is allowed to use this method only if there is confidence that the temperature will not be higher than 45 ° C.
You can use a small hammer or a garlic squeezer to clean the nuts, a certain amount of nuts will be lost and this method will take a lot of time, but there will be confidence that the nuts have retained all the benefits. To regulate the pressure and the blow begins to be obtained soon, so there will be less waste.
Only in the intact kernel of the pine nut contains all its useful properties.
When cleaning nuts, you need to remember that peeled nuts are not stored for a long time, they have a lot of oil and it can go rancid. You can store such nuts for no more than 3 months, and it is best to take each time for cleaning the amount that you plan to eat at a time. Rancid nuts taste unpleasant, and eating them is dangerous to your health - problems with the intestines can occur. Store peeled pine nuts in an airtight bag, preferably in the refrigerator.
Unpeeled nuts are stored in canvas bags in a dark, dry place and only after their preliminary drying. There is no point in storing unprocessed nuts - they will deteriorate very quickly. For drying, the nuts are removed from the cones and laid out in a thin layer on a cloth or paper in a dry and warm room. If the kernels are not removed from the cones, you can try to dry the cones themselves. From dry air they most often open and pine nuts fall out on their own. There are also special tools for extracting pine nuts from cones, these tools are called huskers or husks.