hey guys does anyone know where i can buy pine nuts around the basel area? im looking to make pesto and need the pine nuts for this! also does anyone know what pine nuts are called in german?

Pine nut = der Pinienkern (I think!). It's pignons in French

I buy mine from a couple of places here in Lausanne, both are market stalls - one sells lots of different olives, the other does all sorts of dried fruit and nuts. Maybe you've got something similar...?

migros, coop....

You can try the Asian grocery near Basel SBB (~100m to the left, facing the tram platforms), or perhaps at the one in Reinach (opposite Reinach Dorf tram stop). I'm not sure about Europe, but most pine nuts in Australia are imported from China. Hence my suggestion of these stores.

FWIW: the Asian Grocery at Reinach has a bit of a Thai ingredient focus, and their sweet potato is usually cheaper than Coop. It's only 1/10 the size of the Basel store though.

cheers,
(Mr)Wibble

Basically every supermarket should have them.

Coop/Migros with the other nuts...

Despite being one of the constituents of pesto, pine nuts became all the rage at about the same time as pesto. All of a sudden everything had pine nuts scattered everywhere. As food became the new porn, and chefs the new porn stars, so pine nuts became the new viagra.

You don't have to think pine nuts are so exotic that one has to go to an asian store to buy them.

Go to any shop selling nuts and there you will find pine nuts. Toast them lightly and don't take your eyes off them.

10 years ago it was said that £1,000,000 worth of pine nuts were burned in London kitchens a year.