Pecans and Pine Nuts — The Ten Days of Repentance

Hello, Rabbi. I wanted to prepare a cabbage salad (pareve) for Shabbat with broken pecan pieces (nuts). I remembered that there is a custom not to eat nuts until after Hoshana Rabbah. Are pecans included in this custom? Is there also an issue with pine nuts, even though botanically they are not considered nuts? And is there a difference when they are mixed into a food, such as a salad or cake, and are not the main ingredient?

Greetings and blessings 

When the nuts are recognizable, such as pecan pieces in a salad, even when they are not the main part of the food, the custom is to prohibit them. 

When they are ground and the taste is not discernible, it is permitted. 

Pine nuts are called nuts. 

Rema, Orach Chaim, siman 583, se’if 2 

Azamerah Lishmecha 341

The sources relate to Rosh Hashanah, but some have this custom throughout all the Ten Days of Repentance, and some have the custom until Hoshana Rabbah.

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