PISTACHIO
The royal nut, Pistachio, is one of the most popular and delicious nuts in the world and have developed from a luxury nut appreciated only by the rich into supermarket item enjoyed by all in recent decades. This ‘smiling nut’ has fantastic taste and greenish hues, besides it enjoys high nutritional value containing minerals, vitamins, protein, fatty acid, etc. Iranian pistachio is one of the most popular pistachios in the world. let`s learn more about Persian pistachio.
History
Pistachios are one of the oldest nuts around and known as royal nuts. People have been eating them for more than 9,000 years. The modern pistachio nut was first selected from wild Pistacia vera trees native to central Asia. The initial selection and improvement was first undertaken in the era of the Persian Empire which spanned from the Eastern Mediterranean to central Asia. The early people of Persia used several nuts in desserts, the Arabs copied them, and the Europeans under Arab control in Spain during the Middle Ages in turn copied them. Since 1970s, pistachios have developed from a luxury nut appreciated only by the rich into a supermarket item enjoyed by all.
Persian pistachios
Persian pistachios (pronounced “Pesteh” in Iran), due to their original quality, taste and maximum nutritional value, are very popular and well-known all over the world. Kerman province in Iran is one of the best places in the world for growing pistachios. It provides more than half of the pistachio production in Iran. The cities of Sirjan and Rafsanjan are famous pistachio producers in Kerman province. Other provinces such as Yazd, Khorasan, Fars, Semnan, Sistan and Baluchistan, Qazvin, Isfahan and Qom are also well known for pistachio production.
Higher Kemel to In-Shell Ratio: On average, Iranian pistachios have a ten percent advantage on the edible part of the in-shell nut, when compared to pistachios from other origins.
Variety: they come in many different varieties and sizes: from 18/20 nut counts per ounce, to 36/38.
Taste: Iranian pistachios have a world-famous taste that is unrivaled. This taste advantage is enhanced by roasting Iranian pistachios at higher temperatures, made possible by higher unsaturated oil content.
Roastability: Due to their higher unsaturated oil content, Iranian pistachios have the capacity to be roasted at between 160 to 180°C (hot air stream temperature). Good roasting brings out the unique flavor of the nut.
Tradability: The large number of producers, buyers, exporters, and importers of Iranian pistachios makes for conditions of perfect competition in the market. In the absence of conditions of perfect competition, the market may face price-fixing and market manipulation by influential players.
The explicit different among other pistachios is its taste. It brings you a special taste with rich in mineral and vitamins. Refer to etymology, it’s originally from Iran.
6 benefits of Persian pistachios
It is clear to everyone that in order to be healthy, proper nutrition is most important. Of course, natural and original food products effectively help you to cool down and have a healthy body. Persian pistachios are one of these original foods.
Pistachios have a unique composition of nutrients and fatty acids. They are a good source of unsaturated fatty acids and numerous antioxidants, including tocopherol, carotene, lutein, selenium, flavonoids, and phytoestrogens. Compared to other nuts, pistachios are the richest source of phytosterols.
- Heart health: for the health of the cardiovascular system and the prevention of a heart attack, you can take pistachios, thanks to the content of numerous antioxidants, healthy fats and plant sterols. Studies show that adding pistachios to your daily diet can prevent heart disease.
- Lowering blood sugar: If you have diabetes, add pistachios to your daily diet. pistachios reduce blood pressure, body mass index and C-reactive protein (a marker of inflammation in the body).
- Cancer prevention: Antioxidants play an important role in reducing the risk of diseases such as cancer. Pistachios contain more antioxidants than most nuts and seeds.
- Weight Loss: Due to its caloric content, fiber and protein content, one of the easiest ways to lose weight and maintain weight is eating pistachios.
- Prevention of constipation: The fiber contained in pistachios helps digestion, which should prevent constipation. The fiber contained in nuts is also digested by food bacteria in your stomach and acts as a prebiotic.
- Iron absorption: Pistachios are rich in copper, a mineral that promotes better absorption of iron by the body from food sources. So pistachio is a great remedy for anemia.
How Iranians use pistachios:
You can add pistachios to various dishes, such as rice or salads. In addition, pistachios with fruit are also very tasty and healthy. You can also use pistachios in your cookies, cakes, bread and pastries. In most cases, pistachios are used in confectionery, cooking, decorating cakes, sweets, ice cream and other products. Pistachios are a great snack and can be used in cooking, giving a green or purple color to various dishes. The leaves of the pistachio tree are used in medicine.
Why Pistachios are so precious?
One of the main reasons is pistachio trees. it takes them more than ten years to start bearing fruit after planting.
The largest amount of fruit that a tree can bear in a year is about 50 pounds, and they give this peak weight only after a year. Pistachio trees are resilient and can survive in poor soil and bad weather conditions, provided there is sufficient root drainage. Pistachio trees usually grow in areas where summers are long, hot and dry, and winters are moderately cold.
This specific condition limits the areas of the world where they can grow. Three main places — Turkey, Iran and California, which, in turn, limits production, and this is the second reason why they are more expensive than other nuts.
Pistachios should also be peeled and dried to be a stable product, and this should be done within 24 hours after being removed from the tree.
VARIETIES AND CLASSES OF PISTACHIOS
In general, all commercial varieties of Iranian pistachios fall into two categories by shape: round and long. When the length to diameter ratio is greater than 1.5, then that variety is classified as long, a ratio below 1.5 is called round. there are four different commercial varieties of pistachios cultivated in Iran.
Round (Fandoghi): this type of pistachio is widely and abundantly available and grows in most areas of pistachio cultivation in Iran. Fandoghi is round and has the lowest shape index among the four types of pistachios. One of the reasons for naming them is the similar shape to hazelnut (fandogh in persian means hazelnut). Fandoghi pistachios are available in the following sizes: 28/30, 30/32 and 32/34 PCs per ounce.
Jumbo (kaleghuchi): this type of pistachio has the largest weight ratio and has a round shape. It is sensitive to climatic Fluctuations. Kaleh ghuchi is available in sizes 20/22, 22/24 and 24/26.
Long (Akbari): this is a new type of pistachio. Akbari is long-shaped and large nut size. It is high yield and has the largest kernel to in-shell weight ratio. Available sizes are 18-20, 20-22, 22-24. The shell of this pistachio is easier to open than other varieties.
Long (Ahmad Aghaei): the newest type of Pistachio, which is very popular among farmers due to its high yield and shorter ripening period. It also has the whitest Shell among the four types of pistachios. Ahmad aghaei is a long shape pistachio. This pistachio is available in sizes 22/24, 24/26, 26/28 and 28/30.
The second type of classification divides Iranian pistachios into pistachios with open and closed shells. Open pistachios will split when they ripen. On the contrary, pistachios with a closed shell do not split at the seam when ripe, and they must be split mechanically.
Naturally open pistachios are called smiling nuts.
Mechanically opened pistachios are mainly used to produce peeled pistachios.
One of the most common methods of smiling pistachios is abkhandan in Iran. In this way, they put pistachios with closed shell inside a pool or a special container that has a cold water (about 4 degrees). Pistachios with closed shell will stay in the cold pool for few hours and then they will take it out of the cold water and put in front of heaters that produce hot wind to dry pistachios.
pistachio`s shell begins to open due to the shock caused by the changing in temperature.