According to the Food and Agriculture Organization, only 29 species provide edible nuts, while 20 are traded locally or internationally
Right there: The term "pine nut" is generic. Probably, the "Italian" ones that you like are a particular species. Are you really sure they are Italian, or actually grown in a neighboring country, then through the magic of "last step processing" imported and repackaged as "Italian"? Italy is famous for it in international trade. And, the "Chinese" ones (it is a massive country after all -- same size as EU?) are a different species -- perhaps less tasty. My guess: Pine nuts are very labor intensive. As a result, imported pine nuts from developing countries are much cheaper than those from developed Italy.
In Italy (And Southern France and Spain), most likely nuts from Mediterranean stone pines, Pinus Pinea [1]. In French it's called "pin pignon", which means (pine) nuts pine. I don't think these pine trees exist in China, although some areas do have a lot of pine trees. Maybe those Chinese pine nuts are from Pinus koraiensis [2] or Pinus armandii [3] as the nuts look reasonably similar.
Excellent, informative reply! It sounds like tree farms should try to grow this tree in India, North Africa, or Turkey where climate is similar, but labour is much cheaper.
Well real or not, the pine nut from the stone pine is vastly superior in flavor and aroma to the Chinese imports, which is where the comparison to the truffle comes from.
Pine nuts from the stone pine are really expensive. Although, in this case, it's rather easy to notice the difference.
I won't buy pine nuts anymore, since I'll never know their provenance, and I got pine nut mouth once from a batch from Whole Foods. Pine nut mouth is not fun.
