Pine Nut Mayonnaise

These gorgeous pine nuts were hand picked in Nevada. I bought them at the ojai market and hand shelled them (check out the link to this post if you have never seen pine nuts in the shell). The crazy thing is that even if pine nuts are picked in this country, they are shipped to China to be shelled because there is no equipment to shell pine nuts in this country. It's another small example of how the country's jobs have been given away. So the nuts are picked here, where the scent of the pine forest is everywhere, stuffed into the hold of a smelly diesel ship, and who knows if they are hit with fungicide or pesticide there? Or if they are steamed? Then imagine the journey they go on in China, only to be loaded back on a ship....it's complete madness!

It's a meditation to crack the nuts in my molcajete, feeling their soft silky inner nut emerge from the shell. The nuts look and feel completely different. They are still alive. Soaking them brings them into a vivid aliveness!

So, soak 1/2 cup raw pine nuts overnight, then drain.
Add 1/4 cup water
2 tbsp. organic extra virgin olive oil
1 1/2 tbsp. freshly squeezed lemon juice

This recipe is from RAW. I actually made my mayo by first adoring the plump soaked pine nuts then putting them in the vitamix. I tipped in a bit of water, a couple of glugs of olive oil then went out to the east side of my garden to harvest the first lemon from my most recent tree, a gorgeous little lemon tree. (So this mayo is a celebration of the first of the harvest).

Season with salt or any herb or spice that takes your fancy. The mayo thickens as it sits, so you may want to add a little more water next time you use it.

This is so good I never want to eat regular mayo or even Vegenaise again! So worth the time it took to crack the nuts in the first place.

So where is the photo of the mayo? Come on...it looks just like mayo!
It is not. at. all. the. same.