Pine nuts are the edible seeds of the fruits (cones) of Siberian cedar pine. Tasty and nutritious kernels contain essential amino acids, carbohydrates, a huge number of useful trace elements and vitamins A, E. The following are easy ways to clean nuts at home and on an industrial scale.
What you need to clean pine nuts
Cedar pine seeds are inshell nuts weighing from 0.23 to 0.25 g each. The kernels are covered with a fragile film that peels off easily. The fruit tastes tart, sweetish. Cedar oil is extracted from the kernels. The pine nuts shell is hard, therefore, to open it, you have to use special tools.
For cracking nuts, you can use a hammer and a nut peeler, which is a device designed for mechanical cleaning of nuts. A rolling pin and pliers are also useful. The cones contain a large amount of resin, so you need to remove seeds from them with rubber gloves.
Did you know? In fact, cedar fruits are not suitable for human consumption. Pine nuts are the seeds of several species of pine trees.
Ways to quickly clean pine nuts
You can get pine nuts in pine forests or buy a finished product in the store. Then the raw materials must be properly processed. Processing involves removing nuts from cones, peeling and cracking the shell.
Having collected the cones in the forest, you need to carefully extract the seeds from them. You can open the cones by twisting and squeezing them in the palm of your hand. Then the peeled nuts are peeled with a metal sponge-cleaner or hands. It is first necessary to prepare two containers, in one of which there will be husk, and in the other - pure nuts.
It is possible to separate nut fruits from flakes and husk residues by sifting raw materials through a sieve with a diameter of 6–7 mm. Then, the procedure must be repeated using a sieve with a smaller cell diameter of 3 mm.
You can also remove excess garbage by washing the nuts with plenty of water. Rinsing in hot water will help clear the fruit of the resin. To get kernels from nuts, the shell will have to be chopped.
Ways to extract cores:
- using cooking;
- freezing
- roasting;
- with the help of a sharp temperature difference;
- mechanical cleaning.
The listed methods will help to quickly and accurately clean nuts, having received whole, intact kernels.
Using cooking
To facilitate the clicking, you can try to soften the shell by soaking the nuts in hot water.
You can do this as follows:
- Place the fruits in an appropriate sized container filled with hot water.
- Leave for half an hour. During this time, the hard shell is filled with warm water, softened and, thus, easier to clean.
- Remove kernels by pushing fingers in the middle of a soft nut. It is the center that is the weak point of the fetus. This must be done carefully so as not to split the core itself.
Freezing
The effectiveness of freezing lies in the fact that under the influence of low temperature the shell becomes brittle, and it is easier to crack.
Procedure:
- Wrap nuts in a towel and place in the freezer.
- Take out in a few hours.
- Lightly crush with a rolling pin without unrolling the fabric. You need to crush without effort, since you can easily destroy the nucleus.
Important! After freezing, chopped nuts quickly deteriorate, so it is advisable not to store them for long.
Roasting method
Roasting makes it easier to chop grains by heating the shell. In a dry, clean pan, pour the nuts and fry for 20 minutes. It is necessary to stir them constantly. Then the nuts need to be cooled. The cooled fruits can begin to chop.
You can heat nuts in the oven. To do this, you need to evenly spread them on a baking sheet and place in a preheated oven to 100 ° C. After 15 minutes nuts can be taken out. When heated, the shell cracks, and cracking it with your fingers is quite simple.
With the help of a sharp temperature difference
It is possible to peel nuts from shells by means of temperature differences. To do this, you need to warm them up in any way listed above, and then place them in a container of ice water. After about a day, the nut shell will crack, and removing the core will not be difficult. To clean it, just remove the pieces of softened shell with your fingers.
Mechanical cleaning
The easiest way to peel nuts is with a hammer or pliers. To do this, place the fruit flat on a flat surface. Then, armed with a heavy object (rolling pin, hammer, pliers, wrench), break the shell.
In this case, it is necessary to aim at the center of the nut, since it is there that the most vulnerable spot is located. Holding the fetus with your fingers is not recommended, since it is very small, and using this method can injure them.
You can mechanically clean the grains with the help of special tools, for example, a nut peeler. This device resembles a garlic press and works on the same principle. To crack a nut in this way, you need to place it in the device and, with a strong pressure, break the shell.
Video: crack pine nuts
Is it possible to eat inshell pine nuts
Some people prefer to simplify the extraction of the core from the shell, simply chopping it with their teeth. This method is unacceptable, as it affects the condition of tooth enamel extremely badly. In addition, shell fragments can injure gums. The use of unpeeled pine nuts is fraught with wounds and scratches on the walls of internal organs.
Important! Categorically it is not recommended to husk pine nuts with your teeth. Thus, peeling can seriously injure the oral cavity and even lead to a split of the teeth.
How to clean pine nuts on an industrial scale
Industrial production of peeled nuts is for sale. In this case, the production of a pure product occurs by exfoliating and cracking the shell using special machines.
ABOUTone of the most common devices is rubel - a machine, the design of which resembles two washing boards interconnected. Cones are placed between such ribbed boards and split by friction, releasing nuts.
After peeling, the grains are cracked in a calibration and crushing apparatus. The next step is additional cleaning, which is done manually. Then the nuts are sent for calibration (sorting grains by size).
Processing in such an apparatus allows reducing the amount of impurities up to 2% and preserving the integrity of the natural product to the maximum. One of the methods of industrial cleaning is the use of liquid nitrogen. After heating, the grains are treated with nitrogen, as a result of which the shell instantly crumbles.
Did you know? The cake, which is formed as a result of extracting cedar oil from the kernel, is processed and used to enrich confectionery.
How to use old pine nuts
Old nut kernels are strictly forbidden to eat, as this can lead to food poisoning. However, the use of obsolete nuts still exists. For example, in horticulture, the cedar shell is widely used as mulch, as it contains a large number of micronutrients that are necessary for plant development.
In addition, the useful composition of the cedar shell prevents salinization of the soil and the formation of earthen crust. Mulch from this material is covered both by garden plants and indoor plants. Also, the nutshell is suitable for decorating personal plots, it is used in landscaping.
On an industrial scale, cedar grains are peeled by means of automated devices. However, you can click nuts at home. To do this, just select one of the methods described above. Old fruits can also be used, for example, in gardening.
