By Joel Denker
Young couples, the story goes, strolled through pistachio gardens in Persia and stood under a tree in the moonlight, hoping to hear the nut’s shell crack open. This was an auspicious sign, a promise of future happiness. The distinctive split-open shell of the pistachios suggested a laughing (khandan) face to the poetic Persians.
When the tree’s nuts are ripe, the shells open to reveal a rosy skin covering a pale green seed. This is the consummation of what can be a four- to five-year period from first planting to fruiting. Reproduction requires careful orchestration. A single male must be strategically located in order to pollinate six female nut-bearing trees. The nuts hang in grape-like clusters on the branches.
The pistachio, a bushy evergreen with fragrant leaves, flourished in the dry, barren terrain of Iran, Turkey, and neighboring lands. Long, hot, dry summers and cold winters suited the ancient tree, which today adapts to a similar climate in the Central Valley of California.
The member of a curious family, the pistachio’s kin include the cashew, mango, poison ivy, and poison oak. One variety of pistachio, the turpentine tree, was tapped for this resin. Interestingly enough, the fruit of unripe mango and these wild pistachios both emit a turpentiney aroma.
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To learn more about pistachios, see The Carrot Purple and Other Curious Stories of the Food We Eat, coming in October from Rowman & Littlefield: https://rowman.com/ISBN/9781442248861/The-Carrot-Purple-and-Other-Curious-Stories-of-the-Food-We-Eat.
