Karaburun’s story: from pine cones to pine nuts on the table

Pine nuts are a special ingredient in Turkish pilaf and give that special flavor to semolina dishes.

The production of pine nuts is difficult; buying pine nuts seems like a bit of a luxury. Indeed, almost anywhere they are sold, we are likely to be expected to pay TL 5 for a mere 20 grams of pine nuts. Now just calculate what that price is in kilograms. So, we have to ask the question, “Why are pine nuts so expensive?” The answer lies in the difficulty of finding the special nuts. So let’s look into this. The location is the village of Karaburun, just outside İstanbul. This is just one of the places where pine cones are harvested, but extracting the nuts is just the last stage of a process that takes seven months.

In the pine forests of the Mediterranean, Aegean, Marmara and Black Sea regions of Turkey, the gathering of pine cones begins in the third week of November. This is the most tedious part of the work because this occurs deep in dense forests where walking can be difficult.

Someone involved in the production of pine nuts in Karaburun, Ergün Çoban summed up the nature of his work when he said, “We work where even wild animals do not go.”

This year Çoban, along with 15 other workers, harvested 230 tons of pine cones. However, he said, he believes this number will gradually fall in the future because the pine forests are being neglected. Of course this is not the only problem cone collectors face; they also have to deal with rain, snow and storms. Even though there are delays from time to time, the collection process must still be completed.

The workers then wait until June with anticipation for the cones to sprout. At this time in Karaburun all the collectors work together to harvest the pine nuts. The pine cones collected in winter are spread out to dry. It requires a week of sunshine for the drying and separating of the nuts from the cones.

When the drying process is completed the pine cones are collected and taken to a processor located at the highest point of the village. Here, the nuts are separated from the cones. But the work is not complete. There is a further cleaning process for any bits that may be mixed in with the nuts. Lastly, after damaged ones are tossed out, the remaining nuts are washed and dried again.

Don’t mistake peanuts for pine nuts

Like in every field of work there are people out there looking to make easy money. Çoban says that at some retailers peanuts are being passed off as pine nuts. “It is necessary to pay careful attention. There are some who shape and sell peanuts as pine nuts. You must absolutely taste test the nuts before using them in your cooking.”

Pine cones are large, pine nuts are small. There is quite a lot of cone and very little nut in the ratio. Generally, one ton of pine cones yields 50 kilograms of pine nuts. In one year 5,000 tons of pine nuts are produced in Turkey; but 90 percent of this is exported to various countries, though primarily to the Arab world. So the bottom line is that it is a lot of labor, a little product and a soaring price.