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Pinhão cozido
Boiled pine nuts
Pinhão cozido: Araucaria pine nuts boiled in salted water, peeled and eaten warm on cold winter evenings
When frost settles on the highlands of Paraná and Santa Catarina, every street fair and roadside stall in Curitiba, Lages and São Joaquim sells paper cones of hot pinhão. These are the seeds of the Araucaria pine, big as a thumb, with a leathery brown shell and a starchy, sweet centre that tastes somewhere between chestnut and boiled potato. Families boil a pot after supper and peel them around the wood stove, and the pinhão is also the star of the Festa do Pinhão in Lages each June. The season runs roughly April to July; outside the south, look for vacuum-packed or frozen pinhão in Brazilian shops, and if you cannot find any, fresh chestnuts cooked the same way are the closest stand-in. The common mistake is pulling them out too early: underdone pinhão is waxy, hard to peel and slightly bitter. Chef's tip: snip the pointed tip off each seed before boiling and the shell slips off in one piece once cooked.
- Total time
- 60 min
- Difficulty
- easy
- Serves
- 4
Ingredients
- 1 ⅛ lb pinhão (Araucaria pine seeds)in their shells, rinsed; or fresh chestnuts as a substitute
- 10 ½ cups water
- 1 tbsp coarse salt
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Method
0/5 doneStep 1: Rinse 1 ⅛ lb pinhão (Araucaria pine seeds) in a colander and pick out any seeds that are cracked, very light or mouldy. With kitchen scissors, snip off the hard pointed tip of each one.
Step 2: Put the seeds in a pressure cooker or a large pan with 10 ½ cups water and 1 tbsp coarse salt; the water should cover them by at least 5 cm.
Step 3: Pressure cooker: close the lid, bring to pressure over a high heat, then lower to medium and cook for 45 minutes. Open pan: simmer with the lid half on for about 1 hour 30 minutes, topping up with boiling water so the seeds stay covered.
45 minStep 4: Let the pressure drop by itself, then open. Test one seed: cut it across and the centre should be soft and creamy right through, with no chalky white core. If not, cook 10 minutes more.
10 minStep 5: Drain and serve hot in a bowl lined with a cloth to keep them warm. To eat, squeeze each seed so the shell splits along the seam, or slit it lengthways with a small knife, and peel off the brown skin.
Nutrition per serving
- Calories
- 190 kcal
- Protein
- 4 g
- Carbs
- 42 g
- Fat
- 1 g
- Fibre
- 6 g
Nutrition values are estimates.
KrazyBadal
Good to know
- How long does pinhão cozido take?
- About 60 minutes in total: 5 minutes to prepare and 55 minutes to cook.
- How many people does it serve?
- 4 as written. Change the servings above the ingredients and every amount scales to match.
- Is it vegan?
- Yes. It has no meat, fish, dairy or eggs.
- Is it gluten free?
- Yes, as written. Check the labels on stock, sauces and spice mixes, which sometimes contain gluten.
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