Survival Manual

Pine Tree Equal Wild Edible Food


Most importantly the seeds of all pine species are edible. So no need to learn the identification characteristics of each species. The pine nuts are located at the base of each scale of the pine cones. So one pine cone will contain numerous nuts. To get to the nut you will have to open the pine cone. Some cones like jackpine of the northwest only open under fire conditions. Most open as they dry. So the best technique is heat the pine cone either by setting them near a fire or any method to speed up the heating/drying process.

Most pine tree have small seeds, the biggest and most often used occur in the Southwestern United States. You will have to determine if it is worth the effort outside of the pinon pines.



To remove the pine nut shells place your pine nuts into a plastic food storage bag or between two close knit clothes. If in a airtight bag remove as much air as possible.

Lay the bag flat a table, place a rolling pin or bat or something comparable on the bag and press down hard. Roll the rolling pin forwards and backwards on the pine nuts until all the outer shells have cracked.

Now you will have to manually separate the shells from the inner seed. Discard the shell pieces and consume the shelled pine nuts immediately or soon if used in some recipe.

Find mature pine cones that have not yet dispersed all of their pine seeds. Store and wait for them to open or open manually with a hammer. Shake the pine cones vigorously in a sack Then seperate the pine seeds from the cone. Take these seeds and again work them over to break up the wing part of the seed which isn't edible. Seperation should be easy as the broken up wings will be light and the seed part will be heavier.

Examine the seeds and discard any that have holes. Holes means a bug has gotten to the seed.

Now, on a flat surface grind the seeds to break them up. Now you can manually peel away the remaining shell.



Probably the most common use outside of the pinion nuts in the Southwest is using the needles to make tea. This is an easy task and although you aren't going to survive entirely on pine needle tea it can easily add some flavor to water and provide lots of Vitamins (lots of vitamin C) and nutrients to an otherwise bland drinking water.



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