Red Pistachios

This week we celebrated my son’s 4th birthday and my daughter’s 13th birthday with a big family party. I put out a bowl of pistachios on the table for snacking. They were not the red dyed ones, but the natural ones. Of course the question arose “Whatever happened to Red Pistachios?”

The Pistachio is a small tree that is native to central and southwestern Asia. The fruit grows in bunches. The outside of the pistachio is white and the inside green. The trees are planted in orchards and take seven to ten years to reach a good production. They split open slightly when they are ripe with a slight popping sound. Good luck comes to those who stand under the tree and hear the popping sound.

The shells used to be dyed red by importers to hide any stains on the shells that were caused by hand picking. Most pistachios are picked by machine now so the red dye is not necessary. Some importers still dye them red because of customer demand.

Little known fact - Pistachio nuts are actually highly flammable when stored in large quantities. They are been known to spontaneously combust!