Monkey Puzzle is the common name given by some long-dead Englishman to this extraordinary Chilean pine relative (he’s said to have remarked something along the lines of “that tree would puzzle even a monkey trying to climb it!”). It was and largely remains a curiosity in most places outside its native range, grown as an ornamental specimen tree in botanical gardens and front yards around the world (especially in the UK, where it thrives), but this means we non-Chileans have been overlooking the most important use of this tree: food!
Indigenous Chileans, particularly the Mapuche people, have been eating Monkey Puzzle seeds for thousands of years. Resembling pine nuts, but more like chestnuts in flavor and texture, they are three or four times the length of the average pine nut, and probably at least ten times larger by weight. Seed flesh is starchy and low in oil. They are born on 8-inch diameter cones with up to 300 seeds per cone. The cones remain on the tree but release nuts as they ripen, making them relatively easy to harvest right off the ground. What’s more, individual trees can live and be productive for over a thousand years! The only downside to using this tree in agriculture (as with other conifers) is that it can take 20+ years to reach bearing age. Male trees, however, often begin flowering at an earlier age.
Our seed was harvested from plantings in the Seattle area by our great friend and collaborator Chris Homanics. Despite this tree’s obvious merits, a number of fruitful Monkey Puzzles in Washington and Oregon have been cut down in recent years, and as such it has become increasingly difficult to locate trees from which to collect seed. Thankfully Chris is on the case, and we hope to make offering these a regular occurrence. The seeds are not likely to keep beyond this season, so we urge you to plant whatever you buy before this spring!
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