I was hiking once when I got nailed in the head by a pine cone. I thought it was a crazy bad luck until another pine cone fell next to me and then another and another. A squirrel was up in this tall tree just knocking pine cones down at random hikers. They should just hire squirrels to harvest the pine cones.

Professional arborist here: The climbers could easily eliminate almost all risk by using affordable and common harness and rope designed for tree climbing arborists and loggers. They not only speed up climbing and decent, they also allow you to use pole tools more efficiently and reduce physical strain and injury. Something is fishy about the companies complaining about high insurance costs. They are just trying to save a couple hundred dollars per climber in gear which saves lives, reduces injury, lowers insurance claims, and increases productivity. It's penny wise pound foolish and shows a deep disregard for the wellbeing of the workers. Other countries industry regulators in the US and EU require this equipment while it isn't regulated nor widely uses in countries like India.

"It's actually flat if you don't look down." Wise words.

2:17

When I was living in Flagstaff, Arizona, I had a Navajo friend/"auntie" that would take me to the reservation and we'd go Pinon pine nut gathering.

Good article. I like to eat pine nuts and had wondered why some are so expensive, but others are not. So long as the workers are paid based on their efforts and the dangers, I’m okay with that. No one is forcing me to buy after all. Almonds and pistachios are cheaper, but their farming is terrible. Water usage for these nuts is a lot.

I remember going to work as a chef at a new restaurant, and discovered what had to be a 40 pound box of peeled pine nuts just sitting in the walk-in. I knew it was like staring at a pile of money. When I spoke to the owner about the massive potential losses from the theft of this one box, whether little by little or all at once, I was asked to keep quiet about their value. Sure enough they went missing a few weeks later, on my day OFF.

For the first time I think ever on this show, the laborers seemed to actually get paid a decent wage. Usually it's like "The workers will exchange their 4 bags at 130 pounds a piece for around 6,000 yaberan, or little less than 7 U.S. dollars"

I had no idea... I eat these lightly toasted and salted by the handful when I come back from the store with them about 3 times a year -- around holidays as ingredients. Next time, I will be more reverent. ❤

i cultivate them in NY. My grandpa started some in the 60's on our farm as an ornamental tree fence like row. They are good in cookies also

We pick similar nuts like these ourselves when we go to the forest in Greece. We put them by the fire to open them slowly and then we take the seeds out. Very tasty. I was amazed to see how expensive they are in the USA!

The same 2 reasons for "why so expensive": it's rare and a lot of manual effort is involved.

We call them Piñon here in New Mexico and we’re not climbing a tree lol. We wait until the cones fall.

I had no idea that these cones have seeds in them, that are edible. Whenever i use to visit my mom's village in Garhwal hills of Uttarakhand, India, me and my sister use to play with those cones or paint them. The majority trees in the surrounding area of the village is pine.

I live in Middle Ural and you can buy locally collected siberian pine nuts in shell for as little as 200 rubles (about $3) per 1l jar. Cones go cheaper.Hand thrashing tool and de-shelling mill is not that difficult to make, although thrasing and shelling takes time and creates a lot of waste. Shells (or whole nut with seed) could be used to infuse alcohol and together with chaga, dried wild berries and herbs and honey you can make pretty amazing bewerage. If you have oil press or melager you can make delicious slald oil and urbech (very finely milled nut paste).

Pine trees literally cover my village, looks like I'll need to start picking them

I don’t get what an increased demand for hummus has to do with the demand for pine nuts. Hummus is made with tahini and that is made from sesame seeds… as far as I know there is no need for pine nuts if you are making hummus.

I didn’t know there were edible nuts inside pine cones. Never tasted one.

“these bags go to a processing facility” = they are dumped on the ground in a parking lot.

I agree expensive