Soft and nutty flavor with a hint of sweetness similar to cashews, pine nuts have slightly bitter taste that has a high natural oil content when lightly toasted or puréed into a sauce or mixture.
Mainly associated with Mediterranean cuisines, these little bundles of joy are frequently used to garnish many dishes. Sprinkle on a salad or meal can go a long way since pine nuts are fairly flavorful.
What to eat with pine nuts? Pine nuts are incredibly delicious with cheese, in pesto sauce, and sweet desserts such as cookies savory dishes including southern Italian, Moroccan, Mexican, and Spanish cuisine.
These nuts are used worldly most commonly served with fruits, rice, vegetables, and a glass of wine. Therefore, it can create wonderful aromatic sweet and savory dishes quite easily.
Pine nuts are versatile, and owing to their bomb flavor there’s no going back once you get a taste of them. They have a soft nutty flavor with irresistible sweetness.
Wondering what pairs well with pine nuts? Well, this article answers frequently asked questions that focuses on flavors, spices, and fruits that create the perfect combo with pine nuts.
What to goes well with pine nuts?
From pesto sauce to sweet cake and cookies, pine nuts are an excellent ingredients that make everything taste nutty, earthy in subtle manner. Also, it can be toasted, blended, roasted, or served raw as garnishing the dish.
Properly pairing other ingredients with pine nuts is worthwhile, here are options for you to start with:
- Vegetables: bell peppers, onions, brussels sprouts, kale, sweet potatoes, pumpkin, parsnips, carrots
- Herbs: basil, dill, mint, parsley, chives, rosemary
- Cheese: feta, goat, parmesan, ricotta, mascarpone
- Condiments: honey, olive oil, sugar, vanilla
- Liqueurs: orange, rum
- Rice: jasmine, basmati, white, wild
- Nuts: walnuts
- Wine: Sauvignon Blanc, German Riesling, Merlot
What spice goes with pine nuts?
Adding aromatic spices to pine nuts brings out the goodness of the nut in pasta, roasted vegetables, salads, soup, and dips. However, not all spices go well with pine nuts.
Some spices that blend perfectly with pine nuts include:
- cayenne pepper
- cinnamon
- smoked paprika
- Italian seasoning
- nutmeg
What fruit goes with pine nuts?
From fruit salad to cake and rice, whether the fruit is fresh or dried, pine nuts blend well with citrus, berries, and tropical category fruits. These individual fruits offer tangy, sweet, and sour to the dish that blends well with subtle flavor pine nuts.
Typically, fruits with a citrus flavor are best to go with pine nuts. However, here are other fruit options that go well with pine nuts for you to consider:
- Stone fruits: apples, apricots, pears, peaches
- Citrus fruits: lemon, orange, grapefruits, pomelo, lime
- Berries: raspberries
- Tropical fruits: banana
- Dried fruits: prunes, raisins, apricots, tart cherries, cranberries
What flavors go well with pine nuts?
Pine nuts, with no doubt, pair well with several flavors. These subtle flavor pairings are incorporated into pilafs, stuffing, pasta sauces, and baked goods like quick bread, cookies, cakes, and flatbreads.
Add citrus and refreshing flavors to pine nuts dishes, consider a squeeze of lemon or oranges. Furthermore, spices including nutmeg, cloves, cinnamon, and all spices complement well.
This nut is a great neutral element that provides a middle ground to have loads of flavor.
Here are classic flavor combinations that every chef is fond of when using pine nuts:
- pine nuts + apples + apricots + rosemary
- pine nuts + basil + garlic + olive oil + parmesan cheese
- pine nuts + quinoa + parsley + chives
- pine nuts + goat cheese + honey + dijon mustard
- pine nuts + pears + sour cream + cinnamon
What do you use pine nuts for?
Owing to their sweet and buttery flavor, pine nuts have several preparations that can be used in:
- Salads: For a gentle crunch, add pine nuts to salads. They are inherently oily, and toasting them before tossing in salads is the ideal way to experience their intense fatty flavor in every bite.
- Pesto sauce: Pine nuts are renowned for enriching pesto sauces, combining them with fresh garlic, grassy olive oil, and peppery basil results in a thick, creamy texture green sauce with nutty flavors in it.
- Coffee: To flavor coffee, pine nuts are used in the caffeinated delicacy. This is specialty coffee that has a hint of pine nut flavor and ranges in light to medium roast. The popular coffee that contains pine nuts are called New Mexico Piñon coffee, which is Arabica blend roasted with pine nuts.
- Desserts: The warm, nutty flavor and soft consistency of pine nuts make it the ideal addition to desserts. Try adding to a buttery tart crust, cookie, cake, biscotti, or brittle.
- Dips: Puréed pine nuts with a blend of ingredients makes a great dip to eat with crackers, sourdough bread, baguette or fresh vegetables. Simply adding cheese, herb, beans, vegetables like roast eggplant and cream, you can make baba ganoush, hummus or creamy dip for a healthy snack option.
Eat With Pine Nuts: Conclusion
Pine nuts can be eaten through various methods and tend to blend perfectly with dishes that are served together. They can be mixed with cheese, garlic, basil, and olive oil to make pesto.
They can be sprinkled onto yogurt with fruit and combined with other nuts to create a delicious parfait. As well as baked goods in cookies, biscotti, cakes, and used to blend into sweet treats.
Raw and toasted pine nuts can be added to salads or pasta dishes, and blended into homemade hummus or dipping sauce. With a help of olive oil and herb and spices, the dips will taste fabulous with crackers, bread, or vegetables.
This type of nuts are found in many cuisines including in Italian, Spanish, Moroccan, and Mediterranean. And most of the time, pesto sauce is traditional go-to dish with a base of pine nuts blended into the sauce.
However, you can serve wonderful dish with pine nuts in rice dishes, pasta sauces or cooked vegetables. Use chef’s favorite classic flavors and ingredients to try in your next meal with pine nuts.