Korean Pine; A Nut Tree for Northern Climates

 

The Korean Pine produces one of the most exciting nut crops for ultra-northern gardeners. Bearing large cones with at least 50-100 pine nuts per cone, these trees inspire the possibility of cultivating your own truly local oil and a valuable, protein rich nut crop. These pine nuts are loaded with healthy fatty acids and are made up of over 60-75% oil that are produced year after year from this beautiful tree that lives for centuries. They’re native to the mountainous, incredibly cold regions of Korea, northern China, Mongolia, Russia, and Japan. They are no stranger to frigid winters, acidic, nutrient poor soils, harsh winds, and overall very tough living conditions. These conditions are much like what we have here in Northern Ontario and other parts of Canada.

Many people shy away from planting long lived nut trees because they take a while to start producing food. Korean Pine usually take between 8-12 years to start producing pine nuts, but care and growing conditions of course influence this. When I really think about it, yes, that is a long time. I have moments of feeling impatient with our young Korean Pines we have planted. But it is also not a long time, all at the same time. The past 8 years of my life seem like such a long time and also like they’ve gone by in a flash. Time can be an illusion, and the life span of trees expand our consciousness of it and remind us to think about life beyond our own. It’s super important to think about the big picture of our time here on earth and to act with other generations in mind. These trees are a gift to our future selves, our communities, our resilience as humans and to our local ecology.

Our seedlings that we have for sale are 3 years old so if you plant them next spring, you’re already potentially a third of the way there to harvesting your own nutty goodness. Order your Korean Pines here!

 

Growing Information: Setting Yourself up for Success!

Anywhere our native Pine trees grow here in Canada, the Korean Pine will grow as well. For their first three years after planting, they should be grown in partial sun as they can become burned in full sun conditions. A strategy to accomplish this is by planting them next to other trees you will eventually harvest for firewood, or by creating a shade barrier with materials you have around, such as a ring of snow fence or burlap. They really grow well in proximity to other pine trees and benefit greatly from the fungal associations that established pines are connected to. They like to have other Pine friends around! We inoculate the roots of our Korean Pines with mycorrhizae so that even if you don’t have Pines growing on your property, your trees will still be happy. You can also take an extra step and plant them with some soil you’ve gathered at the base of other Pine trees as this will inoculate them with beneficial fungi.

They are quite adaptable to different soil types, even clay as long as the soil is well drained. You can accomplish this by creating a berm or mound and amending the clay with lots of organic matter like wood chips and leaves if your soil isn’t well draining. These trees are slow growing at first, but will pick up speed once they establish themselves. As the saying goes, Korean Pines will at first seem like they’re doing nothing.

1. Sleep! Then after a few years they will start to noticeably grow a bit.
2. Creep! Until finally, they really pick up speed and burst out in growth.
3. LEAP! Trees teach us patience and commitment unlike anything else.

The nuts are concealed within the scales of the cone. Wear gloves as this can be sticky business!

Nutritional Profile

The nuts are high in protein, an array of minerals, and vitamins, making them an exceptionally healthy food that can really sustain us. Their flavour is awesome, it’s quite buttery with a slight hint of pine. They’re also quite easy to crack and can be efficiently processed by putting the nuts on a towel and rolling them with a rolling pin. They are high in vitamin E, iron, zinc, and manganese, which help with overall bone and heart health.

The oil of pine nuts contains rare properties not commonly found in foods, including pinolenic fatty acid which has a wide range of health benefits. It’s been shown to provide different effects such as immunity enhancement and regulation, anti tumour metastasis, and lipid lowering among many other things.

In Conclusion

Our landscape here in central Ontario is a mosaic of evergreen trees, even in the coldest, snowy weather. Pine trees, in particular White Pine (Pinus strobus), Red Pine (Pinus resinosa), and Jack Pine (Pinus banksiana) are the most common species of this family found in the area. This natural presence of the Pine family making their home here is a great indication that the Korean Pine is also at home here. Although they are quite rare, we’ve seen them growing very happily in Ontario and are very inspired to see more of these trees planted throughout the country.

We’ve planted quite a few Korean Pines on our land here in Mattawa, Ontario, and although they are still young, they are happy and growing well. We look forward to the day we are producing our own pine nuts, and are so grateful for the mother trees that people of the past have planted that we gather from so that we can plant the next generation.