Can you eat the fruit from monkey puzzle trees?

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Can you eat the fruit from monkey puzzle trees?

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Answer 1

Monkey puzzle trees (also known as Chilean pines) bear small nuts rather than fruit, but yes, they can be eaten!

If you're lucky enough to own or have access to a nut-producing monkey puzzle tree, either search the ground beneath it for cones (the round, spiky things) or gently pluck one from the branches.

Pictured: Female monkey puzzle tree complete with cones

Monkey Puzzle Trees: Nut Facts

The nuts grow in cones that are around eight inches wide
Each cone contains about 300 nuts
The nuts of the monkey puzzle tree are sweet and rich
You can eat them raw
Female trees need to be close to a male in order to produce nuts

The nuts should look like this, although they might be smaller if they're not fully-grown. You can still eat them, though—they just might not taste as nice!