Editing Pine nut (section)

{{Short description|Edible seeds of certain species of pines}}
{{redirect|Pignoli|the Italian cookie|Pignoli (cookie)}}
{{other uses of|pine nuts|Araucaria nuts}}

{{Lead too short|date=May 2022}}
{{Excessive examples|section|date=August 2020}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2021}}

{{multiple image
 | direction = vertical
 | image1 = Pinoli.jpg
 | caption1 = Shelled [[Pinus pinea|European pine]] (''Pinus pinea'') nuts
 | alt1 = Shelled [[Pinus pinea|European pine]] nuts
 | image2 = Jat (pine nut) (Pinus koraiensis).jpg
 | caption2 = Shelled [[Korean pine]] (''Pinus koraiensis'') nuts
 | alt2 = Shelled [[Korean pine]] (''Pinus koraiensis'') nuts
}}
'''Pine nuts''', also called '''piñón''' ({{IPA|es|piˈɲon|lang}}), '''pinoli''' ({{IPA|it|piˈnɔːli|lang}}), or '''pignoli''', are the edible seeds of [[pine]]s (family [[Pinaceae]], genus ''Pinus''). According to the [[Food and Agriculture Organization]], only 29 species provide edible nuts, while 20 are traded locally or internationally<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal|last1=Awan|first1=Hafiz Umair Masood|last2=Pettenella|first2=Davide|title=Pine Nuts: A Review of Recent Sanitary Conditions and Market Development|journal=[[Forests (journal)|Forests]]|year=2017|language=en|volume=8|issue=10|pages=367|doi=10.3390/f8100367|hdl=10138/228885|hdl-access=free|doi-access=free|bibcode=2017Fore....8..367A }}</ref> owing to their seed size being large enough to be worth harvesting; in other pines, the seeds are also edible but are too small to be of notable value as human food.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=farjon>{{cite book |author=Farjon, A |title=Pines. Drawings and descriptions of the genus ''Pinus'' |publisher=[[Koninklijke Brill]]|year=2005 |isbn=978-90-04-13916-9 }}{{Page needed|date=July 2011}}</ref><ref name=lanner1>{{cite book |author=Lanner, RM |title=The Piñon Pine. A Natural and Cultural History |publisher=[[University of Nevada Press]] |year=1981 |isbn=978-0-87417-066-5 }}{{Page needed|date=July 2011}}</ref><ref name=lanner2>{{cite book |author=Lanner, RM |title=Made for Each Other. A Symbiosys of Birds and Pines |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] (OUP) |year=1981 |isbn=978-0-19-508903-5 }}{{Page needed|date=July 2011}}</ref> The biggest producers of pine nuts are [[China]], [[Russia]], [[North Korea]], [[Pakistan]] and [[Afghanistan]].<ref>{{Cite web |date=2020-10-23 |title=Why are pine nuts so expensive? 4 reasons a small bag costs so much |url=https://www.today.com/tmrw/understanding-why-pine-nuts-are-so-expensive-t195477 |access-date=2024-04-18 |website=TODAY.com |language=en}}</ref>

As pines are [[gymnosperm]]s, not [[angiosperm]]s (flowering plants), pine nuts are not "[[true nut]]s"; they are not botanical [[fruit]]s, the seed not being enclosed in an [[Plant ovary|ovary]] which develops into the fruit, but simply bare seeds—"gymnosperm" meaning literally "naked seed" (from {{langx|grc|[[wikt:γυμνός#Ancient Greek|γυμνός]]|translit=gymnos|lit=naked}} and {{langx|grc|[[wikt:σπέρμα#Ancient Greek|σπέρμα]]|translit=sperma|lit=seed|label=none}}). The similarity of pine nuts to some angiosperm fruits is an example of [[convergent evolution]].