Pine nut meticulous person) and are an essential component of Italian pesto sauce; the upsurge in the popularity of this sauce since the 1990s has increased the visibility of the nut in America, primarily on the West Coast. "Torta della nonna" (literally "granny's cake") is a generic Italian dish name that in most families indicates an old family recipe for any kind of cake but often is used for a tart or a pie filled with custard, topped with pine nuts and optionally dusted with icing sugar. "Pignoli" cookies, an Italian American specialty confection (in Italy these would be called "biscotti ai
Juglans flavoured with walnuts, while "Salsa di Noci" (walnut sauce) is a pasta sauce originating from Liguria. In Georgia, walnuts are ground with other ingredients to make walnut sauce. Walnuts are heavily used in India. In Jammu, it is used widely as a "prasad" (offering) to Mother Goddess Vaisnav Devi and, generally, as a dry food in the season of festivals such as Diwali. The nuts are rich in oil, and are widely eaten both fresh and in cookery. Walnut oil is expensive and consequently is used sparingly; most often in salad dressings. Walnut oil has been used in oil paint,