Raw Chef Dan

Do Pine Nuts Really Come From Pine Trees

Pine nuts are the edible seeds of pines (family Pinaceae, genus Pinus). About 20 species of pine produce seeds large enough to be worth harvesting; in other pines the seeds are also edible, but are too small to be of great value as a human food. In Europe, pine nuts come from the Stone Pine (Pinus pinea), which has been cultivated for its nuts for over 6,000 years, and harvested from wild trees for far longer. The Swiss Pine (Pinus cembra) is also used to a very small extent.

In Asia, two species are widely harvested, Korean Pine (Pinus koraiensis) in northeast Asia (the most important species in international trade), and Chilgoza Pine (Pinus gerardiana) in the western Himalaya. Four other species, Siberian Pine (Pinus sibirica), Siberian Dwarf Pine (Pinus pumila), Chinese White Pine(Pinus armandii) and Lacebark Pine (Pinus bungeana), are also used to a lesser extent. Afghanistan is an important source of pine nuts. In some cultures, it is believed consumption of copious amounts of pine nut may yield aphrodisiac effects.

In North America, the main species are three of the pinyon pines, Colorado Pinyon (Pinus edulis), Single-leaf Pinyon (Pinus monophylla), and Mexican Pinyon (Pinus cembroides). The other eight pinyon species are used to a small extent, as are Gray Pine (Pinus sabineana), Torrey Pine (Pinus torreyana), Sugar Pine (Pinus lambertiana) and Parry Pinyon (Pinus quadrifolia).

In the United States, pine nuts are mainly harvested by American Indians, particularly the Uto-Aztecan: Shoshone, Paiute and Hopi, and Washoe tribes. Certain treaties negotiated by tribes and laws in Nevada guarantee Native Americans' right to harvest pine nuts

Pine nuts are indeed the seeds of pine trees, and you could plant them, if they haven’t been toasted, which is often the case with those you buy in stores.

They’re tucked inside the pine cones and fall out when the cones open. Not all pines make pine nuts that are nice to eat, and most pine nuts are so small that you could easily not notice them. To make matters worse, when they come out of a pine cone, they’re covered with a hard shell that has to be removed before you see anything recognizable as pine nuts.

Although about 20 species of pine make nuts large enough to be interesting as food, almost all pine nuts used for food come from four varieties: Mexican pine, Colorado pine, Italian stone pine, and Chinese nut pine.

It takes a long time, usually 15 to 25 years, for a pine to start producing nuts, and three times as long before production reaches its maximum. This means pine nuts are often harvested wild, which is part of the reason their cost is so high.

There are some similar edible seeds from other plants that make cones. The juniper seed is well known as the main source of flavoring for gin.

Pine nuts are nutritious, having a high protein content and all sorts of other nutrients. There is an interesting phenomenon, however: After eating pine nuts, some people for days or weeks taste something bitter and metallic. If this should happen to you, don’t worry; it goes away with time.

Resources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pine_nut
http://www.boston.com/business/articles/2010/01/04/where_do_pine_nuts_come_from/

The End of The Internet and Free Speach

WEB 2, have you heard of it

Well if you use the internet for anything now that you can't see yourself living without, you better know whats coming for the internet. The internet is possible because of the companies that host the network. The connections, wires, satellites, the relays and switchers... We pay them a monthly fee to use the network.

What if these companies decided they want to operate more like Cable TV. Meaning they would close the network to subscribers only access, choose and control the content, and you would only get what they offer. They would also have total control and access to your email activity.

There would be no more blogs, bulletin boards, free sites, independent sites, no more how to, wiki, porn, youtube, my site, your site, internet marketing, affiliate links... It is all gone.

And god forbid you say anything on line that is bad or revealing about our government or powers that be, you will be instantly shut down and you will probably get a visit from guys in black suits and dark sunglasses.
FEMA has some nice camps for people like you.

Sniff sniff I smell government monitoring and censoring

So I suggest launching our own satellites and set up a global array of satellite relay stations and have our own Global Open Network or GON. Charge $10 a month for anyone and everyone on the planet to connect.

YA RIGHT !
who's got the the cash for that? Uuumm Bill Gates?

Life Savers In A Pinch

WORTH REMEMBERING!

There are a few things that can be done in times of grave emergencies. Your mobile phone can actually be a life saver or an emergency tool for survival. Check out the things that you can do with it:

FIRST --- Emergency Global 911

The Emergency Number worldwide for Mobile  is 112. If you find yourself out of the coverage area of your mobile network and there is an emergency, dial 112 and the mobile will search for any existing network to establish the emergency number for you, and interestingly this number 112 can be dialed even if the keypad is locked. Try it out.

SECOND --- Have you locked your keys in the car?

Does your car have remote keyless entry? This may come in handy someday. Good reason to own a cell phone: If you lock your keys in the car and the spare keys are at home, call someone at home on their mobile phone from your cell phone.

Hold your cell phone about a foot from your car door and have the person at your home press the unlock button, holding it near the mobile phone on their end. Your car will unlock. Saves someone from having to drive your keys to you. Distance is no object. You could be hundreds of miles away, and if you can reach someone who has the other 'remote' for your car, you can unlock the doors (or the trunk).

Editor's Note: It works fine! We tried it out and it unlocked our car over a mobile phone!'

THIRD --- Hidden Cell Phone Battery  Power

Imagine your mobile battery is very low. To activate, press the keys *3370# Your mobile will restart with this reserve and the instrument will show a 50% increase in battery. This reserve will get charged when you charge your mobile next time.

FOURTH --- How to disable a STOLEN mobile phone?

To check your Mobile phone's serial number, key in the following digits on your phone:
* # 0 6 #

A 15 digit code will appear on the screen. This number is unique to your handset. Write it down and keep it somewhere safe. When your phone get stolen, you can phone your service provider and give them this code. They will then be able to block your handset so even if the thief changes the SIM card, your phone will be totally useless. You probably won't get your phone back, but at least you know that whoever stole it can't use/sell it either. If everybody does this, there would be no point in people stealing mobile phones.

ATM - 911 alert (PIN Number Reversal) - Good to Know

If you should ever be forced by a robber to withdraw money from an ATM machine, you can notify the police by entering your PIN # in reverse. For example, if your pin number is 1234, then you would put in 4321. The ATM system recognizes that your PIN number is backwards from the ATM card you placed in the machine. The machine will still give you the money you requested, but unknown to the robber, the police will be immediately dispatched to the location. This information was recently broadcast on CTV by Crime Stoppers however it is seldom used because people just don't know about it.. Please pass this along to everyone.

This is the kind of information people don't mind receiving, so pass it on to your family and friends

Your money is being spent to kill people!