Yep, in the Great Basin area you folks have the single needle pinyon, while in the southern Rockies we have the 2 needle pinyon. Different species, but still very similar pine nuts.
Probably squirrels also.
Must be quite a job to harvest them! I'll occasionally use them when I make stuffed peppers. Never knew they put them in candy.
The local tribes spread tarps under the tree and then shake the tree branches to dislodge the nuts. Several local candy companies use them to make nut rolls, brittle, fudge, and chocolate nut clusters.
The shells are fairly soft in pinyons and I just use pliers. They crack easily after being roasted. The commercial processors have some kind of machinery to do the job.
All pines have nutty seeds, but some are very small, and most aren’t very tasty. A few species of pines have larger tasty seeds. Italy has the Italian stone pines, the U.S. has the pinyon pines and a few others that are tasty.
Our pines have smaller seeds that have like a small wing attached so they helicopter to the ground. Small birds like nuthatch and chickadee eat them.
Yeah ponderosa pine seeds aren’t good tasting.
