Okay. Let's straighten this whole thing out. (And I'm sure you were wondering about this same as I was.) Is it pignoli, pignolo, pignolia, pinoli, pinolo, pignon, pine nut, or snoober? Snoober!? It seems in the U.S. of A., we believe the Italian word for the English name, pine nut, is pignoli (pronounced pin-yoli). Our encyclopedias spell it three different ways: pignoli or pignolo (which is the singular of pignoli) or pignolia (don't ask me where that comes in).
Maybe, a long time ago, Italians used the word pignoli, but now they say pinoli, or the singular pinolo (no yo on the "n"). In fact, in the Italian/English dictionary under pine nut, along with pinolo and pinoli they
list pinocchio! (What a nut that kid must have been.)
Pignon is just another, more formal, very inedible-like term. Like pinus pinea, the name of the tree the pignon (pinolo, pignolo, pine nut... ) comes from. In English, it's a stone pine tree, common to Italy and other coastal Mediterranean countries. But what on earth are we talking about anyway? No matter what the name, they're the same little kernels that look like the tips of Halloween candy corn, but smaller and creamy white. You know, soft to the crunch with mucho gusto? One little guy in your mouth and the flavor detonates like a tiny, friendly explosion. It tastes earthy, woodsy, mellow, and intensely charming. Italians sprinkle them in a number of characteristic dishes; mostly used in Liguria (the Riviera region and the home of pesto sauce with pinoli nuts), and Sicily. In ancient Rome, Apicius (the only man who seems to have written down recipes), used pinoli nuts in several recipes: nut custard, liquid honey-nut dessert, and a sort of nut brittle. Some Middle Eastern countries use them (especially Jordan, Lebanon, and Syria), where they're called snoober (the most fun name yet!).
