ONE OF THE WORLD LARGEST PINE NUTS PRODUCER
PLANTATION
Our plantation trees need to be pruned and thinned as they develop to ensure only the best producers are given the maximum space and sunlight to thrive. Cone harvesting is currently done manually, using hooked poles to pull cones from the tree on our youngest trees. On older, taller trees we use tree-shaking machinery to get the cones on the ground. We graze sheep and cattle under the trees to control grass growth and recycle nutrients effectively.
​
Pine nut trees are forest trees just like many pines, and they produce valuable wood from the stems thinned from growing plantations. When the trees truly grow too large for cone harvest, they will be felled and replaced again with young seedlings, but we don’t expect that stage for over 100 years. In Europe there are plantations of trees over 200 years old, still being harvested each year!
​
We have made furniture and cone bins for our own harvests from pine nut trees in the region, and we have sold logs into the market for sawn lumber and firewood from trees thinned from our oldest plantations.
PINUS PINEA
We selected the Mediterranean stone pine (Pinus pinea) for our plantations because it yields the most sought-after pine nut in the culinary world. It is a beautiful tree, tough and resilient to dry and sunny climates, and adaptable to cultivation. Stone pine has a long and sustained history of usage throughout Europe over thousands of years.
​
pine nuts are a healthy and nutritious natural whole food. They contain the highest protein count of all nuts (34% by weight). They have an elegant shape, a delicate texture and distinctive taste. The only chemicals used in producing our pine nuts are for grass control at time of planting our tree seedlings! After that our plantations are free of herbicides, insecticides and fungicides, and our factory uses only pure filtered water and heat during processing. Between process runs commercial cleaning fluids are used to keep the machinery in pristine condition. We take great pride in bringing this natural and ancient food product to market from new and sustainable plantations.
