Kitchen garden: Pining for Italian nuts

When interviewing Italian-born Dario Campagna (Kitchen Garden March 13), he expressed a hope to find a source of Italian pine nuts, rather than the short ones imported from China (Pinus koraiensis). I told him about the stone pines (Pinus pinea) growing in Westbourne Woods, Yarralumla.

Dario and his girlfriend Sally went on a search, as did I, and we each found fallen cones in an area outside Royal Canberra Golf Club in Yarralumla. The old cones were either bare of nuts due to sulphur crested cockatoos feeding, or had rancid nuts.

Pinoli pine cone with nuts.
Photo: Supplied

Owen Bolitho, horticultural manager at the National Arboretum Canberra, said their Forest 56 was planted with Pinus pinea in 2009. There are 199 stone pines in that forest and the trees get some water every three weeks but would probably do well just on rainwater.

On March 21, Owen inspected the trees for cones as there had been none in previous years and reported the exciting news was that at least two of the larger trees have cones. It is not permitted for the general public to pick fruit or nuts from plants in the National Arboretum, as stated in their public use policy.

Pinoli pine nut and lemon tart.
Photo: Supplied

Online I found Pinoli, a privately owned New Zealand company growing and processing Mediterranean stone pine nuts. Andy Wiltshire of Pinoli said, "We have a background in forestry, a love of fine food and lots of patience. We planted our first orchard in 1998 and now have 500 hectares planted. The seven orchards are a long-term sustainable resource (grow up to 300 years). They provide environmental benefits including erosion reduction and protecting soil structure and fertility. The orchards are a net carbon soak and no irrigation is needed, they are free from pesticides, insecticides and herbicides once established. We graze sheep and cows in our orchards for grass and weed control".

The Pinoli factory was established in 2013 in Marlborough NZ, they supply domestically in NZ and export to Australia and Spain and are the only producer in the southern hemisphere. As Lee Paterson from Pinoli explained, "We harvest in winter by hand, using poles and a mechanical tree shaker, then dry the cones (in natural sunshine and/or use a solar kiln) until the height of summer, then extract the seed from the cones in Stage 1. The seed is then taken into the main factory and cracked in Stage 2, then polished and washed in Stage 3. It's a big monster of a process all told".

The by-products (cone bracts) are a useful source of biomass and garden mulch. The shell waste is a natural source of carbon. Andy says pine nuts have the highest in protein of all nuts and contain antioxidants, minerals and vitamins.

I received a sample of the nuts to share with Dario. Mine have been eaten raw, toasted and added to a salad and roasted and included in pesto with homegrown basil. If refrigerated (not frozen) homemade basil should be eaten within a week.

Among lots of recipes for using the premium pine nuts on the Pinoli website (pinoli.co.nz), I chose the following tart.

Pinoli pine nut and lemon tart

Pastry:

300g plain flour

1 tsp baking powder

100g unsalted butter

115g caster sugar

2 small eggs, beaten

2 tbsp water or vin santo (sweet wine)

3.5 tbsp (40g) Pinoli pine nuts

Lemon curd filling:

1 cup sugar

finely grated rind of 3 lemons

half cup lemon juice

200g unsalted butter, cut into cubes

4 eggs, lightly beaten

3 tbsp Pinoli pine nuts

to finish:

1 egg yolk

2 tbsp milk

3 tbsp Pinoli pine nuts

icing sugar to dust

Make the lemon curd by placing sugar, lemon juice and rind and butter in a pot and bring to the boil. Heat a larger pot of water. Remove sugar and butter mixture from heat and whisk in the four eggs, place the pot over larger pot of simmering water and stir constantly until sauce is thickened, cool.

For the pastry, sift the flour and baking powder into the bowl of a food processor and add butter, pulse until mix resembles fine breadcrumbs. Add sugar, eggs and 3.5 tbsp raw pine nuts, pulse again util the mix comes together. Knead the dough for 1-2 minutes on a lightly floured surface. Press into a thick disc and chill for 30 minutes. Roll our two thirds of the pastry and use it to line a lightly greased 23cm loose-based tin.

Lightly toast 3 tbsp pinenuts in a dry frying pan until golden, then cool. Assemble the tart, spooning in the cooled curd filling topped with the 3 tbsp of toasted pine nuts. Roll out the remaining pastry and use to cover the filling, pressing the edges to seal. To finish, beat the egg yolk in the milk and brush over the pastry top, sprinkle over 3 tbsp raw pine nuts. Bake in a preheated oven at 180C for 40 minutes or until well risen and golden. Dust with icing sugar and leave to cool for the filling to set. Serve in wedges with creme fraiche, yoghurt or cream.