Birthplace in Holy Lands

In the history of pistachios is royalty, perseverance and pride.  Pistachios date back to the Holy Lands of the Middle East, where they grew wild in the high desert regions.  Legend has it that lovers met beneath trees to hear the pistachios crack open on moonlit nights for the promise of good fortune.  A rare delicacy, pistachios were a favorite of the Queen of Sheba, who hoarded the entire Assyrian supply for herself and her court.  The royal nut was imported by American traders in the 1880's, primarily for U.S. citizens of Middle Eastern origin.  Some 50 years later, pistachios became a popular snack food, introduced in vending machines.  These imported nuts were dyed red to draw attention, and to cover stains from antiquated harvesting techniques.

California Pistachios

The birth of the California industry followed shortly.  It was in 1929 that American plant scientist William E. Whitehouse spent a lonely six months in Persia (modern day Iran), collecting seed and sifting through piles of produce to find the most distinctive pistachios.  He returned carrying a burlap sack 20 pounds heavy with seed.  

The next year, experimental plantings were established in California, the perfect host with it's desert-like climate.  With pistachio trees requiring a full seven to ten years to mature, it was 1950 before one stand-out tree emerged.  The variety was named Kerman for the famous carpet-making city near which the seed was collected.  Scientists then strengthened the Kerman by budding it to heartier rootstock varieties.

Now the concept of a California pistachio industry was becoming a reality.  Word of the new crop spread, and plantings expanded throughout the state in the 1960's.  Yet, many facets of the new crop remained a mystery to these adventurous Californians.  Waiting the seven to ten years for a return on their investment, they came to find that pistachios are alternate bearing, producing a heavy crop one year and a lighter crop the next.  But it was their diligence and commitment that brought forth an industry that is now the second largest producer of pistachios worldwide.

The first commercial crop of 1.5 million pounds was harvested in 1976 from less than 1,500 acres.  California now has over 90,000 acres yielding more than 100 time the amount of that first harvest.

Harvesting for Quality

Pistachios grow on trees in grape-like clusters and are encased in an outer skin, or hull.  When pistachios ripen, the hull turns rosy and the shell within splits naturally, indicating they are ready for harvest, usually in September.

California pistachios are mechanically shaken from the trees onto a catching frame, never touching the ground.  Each tree takes less than a minute.  They are loaded onto containers and rushed to the processing plant where hulling, drying and sorting are completed.  Later the nuts are roasted, salted and sometimes dyed.

If the nuts are not processed (hulled and dried) within 12 to 24 hours, the shell will be stained.  The California industry has invested millions of dollars in equipment to process its pistachios quickly to avoid staining and sell the nuts in their natural color shells.  California processors dye a small percentage of their pistachios not by necessity, but to meet the desires of those consumers who prefer colorful shells.