What is the difference between pine cones and pine nuts?

The person above talked about the various uses of pine nuts, which opened my eyes.

But one very important thing is wrong - pine nuts are not the fruit of pine trees (whether they are "red pine" or not), but "seeds"!

Seed plants are divided into angiosperms and gymnosperms. The various vegetables and fruits we usually eat are basically the roots (such as radish), stems (such as celery), leaves (such as cabbage), flowers, fruits (such as peaches) and seeds (such as watermelon seeds) of various angiosperms. ). However, pine nuts do not fall into this category!

Gymnosperms (including pine, fir, and cypress) have roots, stems, leaves, and seeds, but no real flowers or fruits. Sometimes you can see ball-like structures on pine, fir or cypress trees. People usually call them "pine cones" on pine trees. In fact, pine cones are not really "fruits" because they have different origins from fruits (which is purely a botanical issue and will not be discussed here). When the pine cone matures, the sheath that was originally tightly wrapped around it will loosen, and the seeds inside will scatter out, and they can germinate when they encounter suitable conditions. After people collected pine seeds, they were processed and became what we usually call "pine nuts".

It can be seen that pine nuts are the "seeds" of pine! Pine nuts are the fruit of the red pine tree, also known as maritime pine nuts. Pine nuts contain fat, protein, carbohydrates, etc. Pine nuts are an important traditional Chinese medicine. Long-term consumption of pine nuts can strengthen the mind, moisturize the skin, and prolong life. Li Shizhen of the Ming Dynasty once spoke highly of the medicinal uses of pine nuts. He wrote in the "Compendium of Materia Medica": "Hai pine nuts, also known as Silla pine nuts, have a sweet smell and are non-toxic; they are mainly used to treat joint wind, dizziness, and death." It can whiten the muscles, dissipate water and qi, moisturize the five internal organs, dispel wind and paralyze cold qi, nourish weak and weak qi, fatten the five internal organs, disperse wind and dampness in the intestines and stomach, take it for a long time, lighten the body, and prolong life. "It can be eaten, and can be used as candy. Pastry accessories, it can also be used as a substitute for vegetable oil. In addition to being edible, pine nut oil is also an important raw material for dry paint and leather industries. Pine nut bark can be used to make dyes, activated carbon, etc. In short, pine nuts are a treasure with high economic value in forest areas. my country is the main country exporting pine nuts, and Yichun is the main producing area of ??red pine nuts.