IMAGINE A NEW MEXICO CHRISTMAS without the humble, but precious, piñon tree. It’s not a pleasant thought.

Throughout the holidays, piñon smoke drifts through the air like fairy dust, seemingly calling all to celebrate with loved ones.

Not only do norteños burn it in our fireplaces, but we use it in cooking (especially in cookies, empanaditas and pesto sauce) and gild our homes with its enticingly fragrant boughs and cones. There are piñon smudge sticks, piñon incense and even piñon coffee.

"Nothing defines Christmas in Santa Fe better than the wafting smoke of piñon fires and farolitos!" U.S. Rep. Tom Udall exclaimed by e-mail to The New Mexican. "When my wife, Jill, and I moved into our home in 1991, in anticipation of the holidays we began the tradition of gathering friends and family around crackling piñon fires to watch the lights of Santa Fe appear in the chilly, clear evenings."

Mayor David Coss agreed.

"Santa Fe becomes a really magical place during the winter holidays. The distinct aroma of piñon smoke in the air is one of my favorite things about this time of year," he said.

"Historically it brings up really good times, ... big, quiet snowflakes falling, riding horses bareback at midnight on a ridge in a full moon," Tesuque native Kern Hicks said. "I've always loved the smell of piñon firewood. I don't know what it is. It's special."

Our state tree, Pinus edulis, is one of 11 species of soft pines known as north American nut pines, according to the Web site, www.piñon.com. Piñon, it says, is the only tree to have a bird named after it: our beautiful, but raucous, piñon jay. Whether one calls it piñon, pignon, pignoli or pinyon, the nut has been used in cooking by diverse cultures -- Greeks, Romans, Mediterraneans and Indians.

Tag Hoag, who works at the downtown branch of Santa Fe Public Library, remembers her mother making piñon cookies at Christmas to give to the neighbors. She follows the tradition, using a family recipe she learned from her Italian grandmother.

"I only make it at Christmas time. I make all kinds of cookies," she said. "They're the first that run out. People are already asking about them for this year."

Theo Raven, Tesuque native and owner of Doodlet's in downtown Santa Fe, said her mother, who was a nanny to Mabel Dodge Luhan's grandchildren, was influenced by Luhan's practice of burning sage in a big platter.

"It has nothing to do with piñon except, when mother moved back to Santa Fe, she used to burn piñon branches in a bucket in the shop," Raven said. "She would smoke up the shop. Finally the fire department asked her to stop because it kept setting off the smoke alarm. We love the smell. It's part of our heritage."

Albuquerque native and longtime Santa Fean Rafaelita Bachicha remembers childhood foraging expeditions for piñon nuts with her siblings. "My brother would climb up in the tree and shake it fiercely. The nuts would fall down, and we would scramble to find them. That was half the fun," she said.

The family stored the nuts in empty lard tins and would later roast or bake with them. Bachicha loves to eat traditional empanaditas, made with meat and piñon nuts.

This season, take time to smell the piñon. Or sit back and watch them roasting on an open fire.



LEARN MORE

Piñon products are available in local shops and restaurants and on the Web.

For recipes, visit www.vivanewmexico.com, which also has information for ordering Cocinas de New Mexico. Proceeds from the cookbook go to the Good Neighbor Fund, a program to help low-income families pay for their utilities.

By mail, send U.S. $11.95 to:

Contact Market Services (VIVA!)
Public Service Company of New Mexico
Mail Stop 2204
Albuquerque, NM 87158

www.foodsfromnewmexico.com -- New Mexico foods

www.piñon.com -- general piñon information

www.nmpiñoncoffee.com -- piñon coffee

www.chiminea-wood.com -- piñon wood

www.juniperridge.com -- piñon incense

www.piñonnuts.com

www.newmexicopiñonnuts.com

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