The quantity and price of pine nuts in the supermarket is bizarre
Adeline loves eating, a lot and often, both at home and out. She lives on double espressos, is addicted to ice lollies and considers joining Ik Vertrek every week to open a B&B with an honesty bar somewhere in the world. But this week, she simply has to talk about supermarket pine nuts.
Normally, I would just toss a bag of seeds into my basket and then sprinkle them generously over a salad or pasta, until somewhere along the way my brain registered the first price and I then walked past the second shelf with pine nuts. Wait, what?
All kinds of bags of pine nuts
I’m not naturally a mathematical genius, but even I deciphered that these were much cheaper than the first, smaller bag. And so I ended up in the corner of the supermarket with a calculator and all kinds of bags of pine nuts. Well, for pine nuts’ sake, it made absolutely no sense.
This rip-off has been going on for years
By now, I’m a gifted pine-nut-price comparer. There, that word (good one for Scrabble) is out of the way. When I need pine nuts, I know I’m being ripped off in the supermarket. I have to say that this feeling has been creeping up on me more often lately, but when it comes to pine nuts, it’s a different story. This rip-off has been going on for years, after all. Ever since I made pasta with chicken, crème fraîche and green pesto as a student in my anti-squatting apartment somewhere in the east of our capital city. And believe me, that was quite a while ago.
Price of pine nuts
The price of pine nuts makes absolutely no sense. You’re always slightly thrown by the difference in packaging and grams, but once you know, you see it everywhere. In every aisle, pine nuts have a different price. It slaps you in the face with a bag of pine nuts when you look at the price per kilo for once. It fluctuates somewhere between 50 and 80 euros per kilo. Not that I need a kilo of pine nuts, but I still think that’s quite a difference for a bag of those tiny seeds. They can really perk up a dish, but is that enough to justify such a price difference? No.
At least three places in the supermarket
Another thing: pine nuts aren’t limited to—I’ll just name one aisle—the seed aisle, no no no. Pine nuts can be found in at least three places in the supermarket. By the salad, a logical and understandable spot. Within three metres, they appear once again next to the basil plants and dates, which isn’t all that surprising either. The observant supermarket shopper will often find them somewhere among the sprinkles next to the ready-made dressings. And finally, there are pine nuts in large packages in the baking section. I discovered that last one when I went looking for shelled pistachios. I can hardly say this out loud, honestly.
I never thought I’d be ripped off by a pine nut. Right, I’ll make a lovely pasta salad again tonight. With pine nuts. Let’s see if I can find the cheapest ones in the supermarket tucked away in some obscure corner.
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