Pine nuts are an optimal source of nutrients and also have high palatability. In order to maintain its positive effect for a maximum period of time, it is necessary to take care of the correct processing of this product. How to quickly clean cedar cones can be found in this article.
How to quickly clean cedar cones
To get rid of the shell on the cedar kernels of the house, you must first place them in a pan with cold water and rinse slightly. Due to the fact that the fruits are heavier than garbage and broken scales, they will sink to the bottom. Everything else needs to be drained or collected using a conventional slotted spoon. After that, you can begin the cleaning procedure.
Did you know? A large amount of cedar furniture was discovered in the tomb of Tutankhamun. Most of the items were kept in good condition and even had a slight smell characteristic of this wood species.
Quite simply, you can handle the shell if you apply the method of freezing. This helps not only to extract the fruits as quickly as possible, but also protects them from breaks during processing (this is especially important if you are going to put nuts for sale). For maximum effectiveness, they should be placed in the freezer for about 2.5 hours. During this time, they will have time to grow stronger enough.
Now you need to remove the raw materials in small portions (100 g each), pour them into a fabric bag and roll out with a rolling pin on the countertop or cutting board. You should hear the characteristic sound of cracking nutshells. Now the contents of the bag are poured into a bowl and, if necessary, repeat the procedure. If it was possible to peel all the nuts, go to the next layer.
Sometimes, in order to extract the core from the scales of the cedar fruit, you just need to pour the product with boiling water for 30-40 minutes. This is enough to make the shell soft and easy to peel. It is worth noting that the method will be effective only if the cones are absolutely ripe. Otherwise, it is better to replace this method by boiling the contents in boiling water.
It is quite simple to click nuts from the shell if you use the method of a sharp temperature difference. To do this, pour ice water into a large pot or plastic container, and fry the fruits at that time in a pan for 5 minutes. After that, they need to be sharply poured into a container with cold liquid. The temperature difference will provoke the separation of the shell from the kernels. This method also helps to remove the inner yellowish film on the core.
How to get nuts from pine cones
Since the flakes of cedar cones are quite hard and also sticky (due to the presence of a dense resin layer on their surface), it is better to boil them before cleaning. The cooking process takes only half an hour: during this time, the resin completely dissolves, and the scales of the cones become more plastic and pliable.
The boiled cedar kernels in the shell must be cooled (under the pressure of cold water or in a natural way), and then dried in a pan. This is necessary so that the mold does not start to form on the wet product and the moth does not appear.
Did you know? The name of the protagonist of the fairy tale “The Adventures of Pinocchio” was not chosen by chance. According to the story, the doll was made of cedar wood, whose name in Italian sounds like Pinoccoli.
Manual peeling of nuts can be done as follows:
- Wear rubber or fabric gloves to prevent your hands from scratching your hands.
- Actively mash the cone scales by twisting them alternately in the left and right sides.
- Shake out the kernels by gently tapping the nut on the edge of the container or on the countertop.
- If particles of kernels remain in the shell, they can be removed with both hands and a small kitchen knife.
How to clear not quite mature cones
If the pine cones are not quite ripe, cleaning becomes a real problem, because the shell is not corny separated from the kernel. Correcting the situation is quite simple: you just need to dry the unpeeled nuts on a baking sheet in the oven or in a skillet. In the first case, the cooking time will be 15 minutes, and in the second it will be reduced to 5 minutes. After this calcination, the nutshell becomes very fragile and thin, so it will not be difficult to process it.
In addition, such a product is much tastier: it crunches pleasantly on the teeth and does not have a moist taste. It is very important to properly arrange the nuts. If their layer is more than 2 cm, then the nuts will not dry out, and cleaning them will be problematic. In addition, the mass must be constantly stirred so that heating occurs as evenly as possible. If the calcination of cedar cones occurs in the oven, then it is better to preheat it to + 180 ° C.
Important! It is best to store peeled nuts in a refrigerator in a cloth bag or in a tightly closed jar. The shelf life of such a product does not exceed 20 days, so do not immediately procure large portions.
So the drying process will occur more efficiently. After the cooking process is completed, the baking sheet or pan should be cooled at room temperature without removing the contents. When the nuts have cooled, they can be poured into a small cloth bag and peeled off the shell using a rolling pin. The process is not difficult and takes only a couple of minutes. After this, it remains only to separate the kernels from food debris.
Cleaning tips
In order for the cleaning to be as effective as possible, and also not require the use of any additional improvised means, you can use ordinary garlic press. This device can be found in the kitchen of every housewife. An additional advantage of this method will be that the shell will not fly around the room, as is the case with, for example, a hammer or pliers.
Important! If the cedar seed was washed in water, then it must be dried in the oven or in a special electric dryer for vegetables, berries and fruits. Otherwise, the product will quickly mold.
The disadvantages of this method include only the low speed, since only one nut will be cleaned at a time. To get rid of food debris (husks, shells or small inedible particles), you need to sort the contents of the container with nuts.
This can be done in three different ways:
- Sift the product through two sieves (one should have cells with a diameter of 6 mm, and the second 3 mm), which will help to separate not only large debris, but also small particles.
- Rinse nuts in water (the kernels will sink to the bottom, and husk and debris will float to the surface).
- Inspect the cores in the wind (when pouring the product from the container into the container from a small husk height, it will be carried away by the wind to the side, since it has less weight and density).
Perform these procedures only after peeling nuts, because this process involves the appearance of small particles of shell and pieces of cones. Cedar kernels are a very tasty and healthy treat. You can buy it in a store already peeled, but the price of such a product will be much higher than the raw materials in the shell. You can also clean at home using one of the methods described above.
