The mineral profile of New Zealand grown pine nuts

Abstract

New Zealand grown pine nuts (Pinus pinea L.) are a relatively new product and are a growing sector of the tree nut industry in New Zealand. It is estimated that 36,080 tonnes of pine nut kernels where produced globally in 2011. New Zealand imported 22 tonnes of pine nut kernels for domestic consumption in 2010. Pine nuts have many nutritional qualities that make them very different compared to other tree-nut crops. Some of these qualities are positive and, some negative and one organoleptically novel feature of pine nuts is Pine Mouth. This phenomenon has yet to be researched fully. In this study a complete mineral analysis of five different species of pine nuts currently being grown in New Zealand, Chinese White Pine (Pinus armandii), Swiss Pine (Pinus cembra), Coulter Pine (Pinus coulteri), Stone Pine (Pinus pinea) and Torrey Pine (Pinus torreyana) was carried out. All of these nuts had a very positive mineral profile except for a very low Ca:P ratio compared to other foods. A low Ca:P profile also occurs in other tree nuts to a lesser extent. Previously published mineral data on these nuts will be compared to the new data and the nutritional significance of these values will be discussed.The mineral profile of New Zealand grown pine nuts.