Piñones

These are actually a bicontinental idea: At the time of the Conquest both the Spanish and Indians had been eating the seeds of their native pine species for centuries. Pine nuts are used like pumpkin seeds and other nuts in sauces, and either ground or whole in sweetmeats and desserts. The most prized variety in Mexico has a salmon-pink color; these are sometimes available in the American Southwest. The flavor is somehow more “piney” than the variety usually sold in this country, which comes from a European species of pine.