Pinus monophylla

Pinus monophylla cone,
with seeds ready to fall out

Pinyon Pines produce the largest pine nut, and thus the best for foraging and eating. There are two common species of Pinyon Pine, Pinus edulis (literally, edible pine) and Pinus monophylla (literally, one-leaved pine). They both produce very similar edible nuts, but Pinus edulis has two needles per packet, while Pinus monophylla has one needle per packet. Pinus monophylla still has the papery sheath around the base of the needle, but with only a single round needle coming out, it seems like an oddity compared to other pines. I live on the border between the two species, because P. monophylla is the dominant pinyon species to the west of me, while P. edulis is the dominant pinyon species eastward up to the great plains. The nearest Pinyon Pine forest to me is Pinus monophylla, so this article is about that species specifically, although everything I say applies equally to Pinus edulis, if you find that species.

The season for collecting pine nuts is in the fall, from September to October. Early in the season is green cone time, when you pick the unopened green cones off the trees. Late in the season you will be looking for fallen nuts on the ground. Some people, perhaps in other areas, are able to find good nuts which have already fallen, but I have no luck with the ones on the ground. Many are invaded by insects, and the critters abscond with all the goods nuts. So I recommend getting out early in the season and picking the green cones. You know it is time when some of them start to open, and you can pick the unopened ones as well. The green cones are thickly coated with pine resin, so using gloves to pick them is very highly recommended. Take them home and spread them out somewhere dry, probably outside unless you really like the overpowering scent of pine in your home. By the end of October, they should all have opened on their own. 

Some of the nuts may fall out on their own, especially if you place them upside down like they typically grow on the trees. But most of my nuts need a bit of help, so holding the cone in one gloved hand, I use a nut pick to loosen or pry the nuts out of the cones. The inside of the cone and the nuts do not have the resin on them, so after this step, the gloves are no longer needed. There are two nuts on most fertile scales, so a single cone can have up to 2 dozen nuts.

Pinyon pines produce a lot of bad nuts. This may be from not being properly pollinated or from insect attack. But I estimate that 2/3 to 3/4 of all the nuts are bad. The bad ones can be identified in various ways. Good nuts always have a very dark shell, although some dark shells may also contain bad nuts. When cracking them with rock or hammer, the bad ones are easily crushed because they are mostly hollow, while the good ones will offer some resistance because they are completely filled with the edible nut. By dumping all the nuts in water, you can reliably distinguish the nuts which are completely filled from the partially filled or empty nuts, because the good, completely filled nuts will sink. I checked some of the floating nuts with dark shells, and found that the nut meat inside them was flawed in some way and did not taste as good as those which sink. So the float test seems to be the quickest and most reliable way to separate good nuts from bad. 

Shelling the nuts is a labor intensive process. I'm still looking for a way to do it more efficiently. They are too small for most nutcrackers, so I tap them with a rock or hammer to crack the shell and then remove the shell by hand.

The raw nuts are very good tasting. They are soft and have a mild flavor which is slightly piney, but mostly fresh and starchy. I roasted some, with shells off, at 350° for 5-10 minutes. (One must be careful not to roast them too long or they will get too hard, so check them often.) The roasted nuts are crunchy with a good nutty flavor which is quite different from the the unroasted nuts. Both ways are excellent eating, and I like them both ways. But there is something about the roasted nuts which keeps me reaching for one more, and one more after that, and so on.