Taiga Snack · Roasted Pine Nuts

Altai Cedar Nuts

🌰

Photo coming soon

Each Siberian pine cone takes about two years to mature before it's harvested — far longer than most nut crops — which is part of why East Kazakhstan's cedar nuts command a premium at market.

Cones harvested from the Altai's Siberian pine forests are dried and cracked to release small, oil-rich nuts, which are roasted and sold shelled or in the shell from market stalls and roadside vendors around Oskemen. Locals snack on them plain or fold them into desserts and baked goods.

Why it's made this way: The Altai taiga that stretches across East Kazakhstan is one of the natural ranges of the Siberian pine, and harvesting its nuts has long supplemented the region's herding and farming economy with a forest product unique to this corner of the country.