Pinon: A Southwestern Treat Michele Laughing-Reeves

PIÑON: A SOUTHWESTERN TREAT

Growing up in beautiful Crystal, NM, my childhood included picking and roasting piñons. Like with many things, picking piñons is part of my culture, and with it comes the yearly routine of glancing at local pine trees to see if any are producing seeds. I quickly learned the simple piñon picking advice that mom and grandma gave before heading to the forest. The result is a tasty snack for the evening-on-the-porch conversations or for the long drives. With pine trees producing seeds on their own timetable, it is good to get your fill whenever they fall and to be patient during the years that they don’t.

Pine trees produce seeds in their cones every four to seven years, depending on the amount of water the trees have received during that period. So, when the trees produce cones again, people and animals look forward to the falling of the nuts in late summer. I have picked piñons whenever possible, so I have my favorite spots and, believe it or not, my favorite trees— four, in particular. Those four trees yield large, pretty brown-colored nuts. Yes, every piñon picker has their spot, and they never reveal it to anyone, perhaps not even to their own adult children. However, there comes a time when you realize that you’re not as young as you think you are, and you spend less time picking and more time coercing someone to pick for you. To buy piñons is a last resort, because they are expensive. And they usually aren’t as tasty as the ones you’ve picked and roastedyourself.

Of course, piñon picking isn’t for everyone. It requires extended crouching or bending over, and it takes time. I remember driving home from college and spending nearly all weekend picking piñons for myself and my family and to have some left over to sell when I got back on campus. Therefore, I had to make the most of my time and that is where the advice came in handy. Never pick a spot with cactus. You should find another place as soon as you run into one. Getting pricked by cacti repeatedly isn’t worth it. Also, always wear a hat, you don’t want to mess with tree sap in your hair, which could also happen if you try to shake nuts from the tree. Traditional Navajos warn that shaking nuts from the tree is considered a taboo. “It’ll bring an early winter.”

I’ve often lost track of time and won’t realize how long I’ve been picking until my stomach growls or I’ve meandered out of sight from my car. It is helpful to have a container that is portable and can stand on its own, and never bring along that person who shows up with a paper bag (think about it). My usual container is a large empty coffee can, and I head home once it is filled. Meanwhile, don’t be so distracted that you don’t keep an eye on your surroundings because we are not the only animals picking piñons. Birds, squirrels, deer, and bears are also picking up andeating.

Piñons are okay to eat raw, but I prefer roasting them. I’m not sure if the roasting process counts as a way to clean the nuts, but I’d like to think it does. Again, the taboo of bringing an early winter is associated with submerging the nuts in water, whether to clean them or to soak them in salt water. I’m not a superstitious person, but I don’t like the cold. The trick to roasting piñons is to constantly stir and frequently test-taste. It’s like cookinggravy or hot cereal, it takes time and attentiveness. I’ve never salted my piñons, mainly because I preferred them unsalted, but I don’t mind buying the lightly salted ones from roadside stands or from the flea market. Piñon are also sold in local stores and have become the secret ingredient in Southwestern cuisine and desserts. Its nutritional value is slightly lower in protein and higher in fat in comparison to other nuts and seeds, or to state it directly—it is a good source of caloric energy. The last bit of advice is “everything in moderation,” and that definitely applies to eatingpiñons.

Without joining the confusing debate of “is a piñon a nut or a seed, or what’s the difference between a nut and a seed,” take time to trek into a pine tree forest and gather some piñons. The pine nut isn’t strictly a Navajo, or even a native thing; it was another source of food when we were hunters and gathers. Now, the piñon pine tree is New Mexico’s official state tree and harvesting piñons is a regional custom, including the piñon flavored coffee sold only at certain grocery stores. There aren’t any special skills required to harvest your own batch of piñons, but a little know-how will save some time and effort—or just be willing to pay upwards of $40 per pound from vendors. By the way, all nuts are seeds but not all seeds are nuts, so piñons are both nuts and seeds.