I make my pesto with sunflower seeds because it's so much cheaper. Pine nuts are oily so I just add an extra splash of olive oil to compensate. My family prefers sunflower seed pesto over the traditional recipe.

PineTree (which, by the by, is a fantastic name for someone commenting on this story!) - that's a brilliant idea. Thanks! I'm totally going to try this in my next batch of pesto.

I make mine with a combo of almonds and pecans as that's what I always have on hand. I actually like it better than pine nuts.

I use walnuts, have never been able to convince myself to shell out what it costs for pinenuts...

I, too, use walnuts. I love pinenuts, but when I can afford them, I like to lightly toast them and sprinkle them on top of my linguine al pesto or salad or what not so I can really enjoy them.

Walnuts are a great substitute for pine nuts in pesto - my italian mom (the one I lived with in Siena for year of school) always uses them in her pestos - delizioso!

I've found pine nuts at Costco much cheaper than anywhere else. If you have a membership, it's worth checking out if you don't want to substitute. And the quality was surprisingly good!

Last year I bought a packet of pine nuts from my local supermarket and I got 'pine mouth' from them which was very unpleasant. I now daren't buy them any more. I have a suspicion that many UK supermarkets have started buying in cheaper pine nuts to keep the price down, but they are actually substandard. I remember the nuts that gave me pine mouth were a smaller size than I'd ever seen before, but now I've noticed that almost all (UK) supermarket pine nuts I've seen in the past year are small and I don't trust them.

Use whatever is local for you. I use walnuts and I am convinced that the Italian immigrants who first settled in my area would have done the same.

I use pumpkin seeds in my pesto - the flavor is nearly identical.

@Katie_B, I got pine nut mouth last year, too! It was an awful experience and I've not yet gotten over my fear of having it again. I use walnuts for pine nuts in most recipes, though they have a bitterness that pine nuts don't.

I very rarely buy pine nuts any more because they have just gotten too pricey. I have gotten into the habit of using walnuts in my pesto or just omitting nuts all together.

I haven't tried much pesto-making since I get really good pesto from our local farmer's market for pretty cheap, but this inspires me to try some home made with different seeds.

Pistachios in pesto are perfect.

I second using walnuts in pesto as well. It's the way I was brought up (traditional Sicilian household) and I love using a few toasted pine nuts on top!

I haven't used pine nuts for many years. I generally sub walnuts or almonds in pesto and other dishes and they work just as well if not better. Pine nuts have always been expensive but right now they're just outrageous. I did shell out for some high quality pine nuts ($30/pound yikes!) earlier this year for a family holiday party where I really wanted to pull out all the stops. I ended up being disappointed in their weaker flavor (compared to other nuts) and lack of crunch. Lesson learned.

Love the idea of pistachios in pesto, @txdave13!

I also use walnuts in my pesto, and in a great olive oil cake recipe from Gourmet (or Bon Appetit? I found it on Epicurious.com...) that calls for pine nuts. I've never really been crazy about pine nuts--I find that if they're not really well toasted they're kind of waxy. Much prefer the taste of walnuts.

The Trader Joe's bag of pine nuts is not too expensive, in fact the shelled walnuts are not that much cheaper there. It's not a ton that comes in a bag, but I only use a bit at a time anyway for pesto or in other pasta dishes, so I don't mind the slight extra cost now and then. It's not like I use them that much, so it's a little splurge. However I do also like other nuts in pesto.

Trader Joe's has the most affordable pine nuts that I've found, though I do fear the dreaded pine mouth whenever I see them *too* cheaply. I love Smitten Kitchen's tomato-almond pesto as an alternative. Pistachios are a great idea - will have to try it!

We once spent a day harvesting pinenuts from cones and, after working on the porch most of the day, we didn't even have a pound so now I understand the prices! If I use pinenuts at all, I toast them and use as a garnish, but more often I use walnuts because they're always in my pantry. I often make other flavors in the style of a pesto and, while not traditional, macadamia nut or almond + parsley + mint is pretty amazing (on veggies, pasta, fish).

I hate to even share this secret (nobody reading this is in Berkeley though, right? I'm not going to have to share am I??) but Trader Joe's will sell you perfectly good pine nuts for, like, $8/lb.

I also buy my pine nuts from TJs and use them when I am really hankering for them. I can't sub walnuts or pistachios because I'm slightly allergic to them. I'm not allergic at all to pine nuts.

I know that in Arizona, you can harvest them from the cones of the pinyon pine. My coworker said her and her family did this when she was young. So, that would be Pinus edulis most commonly, and also P. cembroides. Pine nuts are one of my favorite foods, so the thought of substituting them for something else in pesto is a little weird. But, I will give it a try! As far as the expense goes, it's been my understanding that cultivation of pines that produce edible nuts is difficult. At least for the pinyon pines in the southwest, they have very specific environmental requirements. I don't know about the old world species.

Just made some pistachio pesto last night and it came out fantastic. The way I see it, pistachios were born to be used in pesto. Why else would they be colored green?

There were a few pinyon trees in my home town. If you knew where they were, you didn't tell anybody. I'm still in the habit of checking for random pine nuts under the trees as I walk by. Imagine shelling enough of these tiny bullets just to get a spoonful of nut. I never eat pine nuts now (knowingly) for fear of getting a bad batch.

I think walnuts just taste better too.

Megan, I feel your pain. I had a bad surprise last year while catering my brother's wedding when I accidentally bought $30 of pine nuts. Ouch.

Ditto on the Costco nuts. We've had a big bag in the freezer for years now, and probably paid a third of what the going rate is these days.

I've used brazil nuts with great effect in pestos. I've actually never loved the taste of pine nuts. I find them too...um..piney. knowing they are frequently imported from china makes me all the more sure I shouldn't buy them.

Good Eats with alton brown did a good show on pine nuts...all the info you could ask for. I love that show.

@sillyputty - do you roast the pumpkin seeds first? And I assume you need a serious food processor to grind them up properly?

I've made broccoli and walnut pesto. Delicious. I can't manage to keep basil plants alive long enough to make pesto out of them. :(

I make my pesto with walnuts or slivered almonds. Its a great way to get through our CSA share, since they always give us a ton of basil. I also like to add another green sometimes. For example, two nights ago I made a huge batch of rainbow chard pesto. Scrumptious!

make pesto with walnuts, but soak them in hot water first, about 15-45 min

i've made pesto with pine nuts, walnuts, sunflower seeds, almonds...you name it...but pesto made with cashews is my all time favorite. if you've never tried it, you should. it's so delicious and gives the pesto such wonderful texture that i've even made it without any cheese for a friend who can't do dairy and didn't miss it a bit.

Cashews!!! They work great in pesto. I almost always have a can (or two) of lightly salted cashews in the freezer. They are my favorite nut and I use them almost anytime a recipe calls for any other kind of nut. Pecans work well too, especially when toasted.

Trader Joe's sells a bag of mixed nuts without peanuts that make for fantastic pesto base. Almonds, Cashews, Pistachios, & Macadamia IIRC.

I get mine at the bulk store and they are much cheaper, but you can easily use other nuts.

The first time i made pesto, a few years ago, i did it with pine nuts, also the first time i tried pine nuts. I ended up with a serious case of pine mouth just before christmas!
I have never eaten pine nuts again, and love my pesto with good old walnuts.

I'm another sunflower seed user. I cook at a nut-free school and sunflower seeds are a perfect replacement. I toast mine in a dry pan first.

Another reason for the price of pine nuts is that the trees are 75 years old before they start producing.

Don't buy the Chinese ones, ever.

FYI- TRADER JOE'S pine nuts gave me "Pine Mouth" --- they are the lower quality asian sourced ones and I got a refund immediately afterwards. Stick with European harvested ones.

After my friend got whatever kind of pine nuts that cause everything to taste bitter for weeks, I've avoided pine nuts. (But there's a chapter in Under the Tuscan Sun about harvesting pine nuts that still makes me crave them.)

@vintagejenta, no i don't roast them, but i DO buy the shelled variety! you can usually find them in the mexican section of the supermarket labeled "pepitas".

so you picked those off the shelf without checking the price first?

didn't take time to read all 44 comments before me so this may be a duplicate, but when visiting the Grand Canyon last year we were told that the pinon pine, from whence pine nuts come, are native and abundant. they were even all over our campground. the ground was covered with the nuts. the nuts are the only thing it's legal to remove from the park and 25 lbs/person may be taken manually per day. I spent an hour bent over grabbing one sandwich baggie full. The best way to shell is to gently bite down and crack the shell but not break the nut. Not that easy. I gained a healthy respect for the price of pine nuts. They are spendy.