Pistachio

The pistachio (, ''Pistacia vera''), a member of the cashew family, is a small tree originating from Central Asia and the Middle East. The tree produces seeds that are widely consumed as food.

''Pistacia vera'' is often confused with other species in the genus '' Pistacia'' that are also known as pistachio. These other species can be distinguished by their geographic distributions (in the wild) and their seeds which are much smaller and have a soft shell.

Etymology

Pistachio is from late Middle English ''pistace'', from Old French, superseded in the 16th century by forms from Italian ''pistacchio'', via Latin from Greek ''pistákion'', and from Middle Persian ''pistakē''.

History

The pistachio tree is native to regions of Central Asia, including present-day Iran and Afghanistan. Archaeology shows that pistachio seeds were a common food as early as 6750 BC. So far, the earliest evidence of pistachio consumption goes back to the Bronze Age Central Asia and comes from Djarkutan, modern Uzbekistan.

Pistachio trees were introduced from Asia to Europe in the first century AD by the Romans. They are cultivated across Southern Europe and North Africa.Davidson (1999)''Oxford Companion to food,'' Oxford University Press

Theophrastus described it as a terebinth-like tree with almond-like nuts from Bactria.

It appears in Dioscorides' writings as ''pistákia'' (πιστάκια), recognizable as ''P. vera'' by its comparison to pine nuts.

Pliny the Elder writes in his ''Natural History'' that ''pistacia'', "well known among us", was one of the trees unique to Syria, and that the seed was introduced into Italy by the Roman proconsul in Syria, Lucius Vitellius the Elder (in office in 35 AD) and into Hispania at the same time by Flaccus Pompeius.

The early sixth-century manuscript ''De observatione ciborum'' (''On the Observance of Foods'') by Anthimus implies that ''pistacia'' remained well known in Europe in late antiquity.

An article on pistachio tree cultivation is brought down in Ibn al-'Awwam's 12th-century agricultural work, ''Book on Agriculture''.

Archaeologists have found evidence from excavations at Jarmo in northeastern Iraq for the consumption of Atlantic pistachio.

The Hanging Gardens of Babylon were said to have contained pistachio trees during the reign of King Merodach-Baladan about 700 BC.

In the 19th century, the pistachio was cultivated commercially in parts of the English-speaking world, such as Australia and in the US in New MexicoEsteban Herrera (1997) ''Growing pistachios in New Mexico,'' New Mexico State University, Cooperative Extension Service, Circular 53

/ref> and California, where it was introduced in 1854 as a garden tree.Introduction to Fruit Crops (Published Online)
Mark Rieger, Rieger asserts that pistachios began to be commercially harvested in the 1970s. 2006

In 1904 and 1905, David Fairchild of the United States Department of Agriculture introduced hardier cultivars to California collected from China, but it was not promoted as a commercial crop until 1929. Walter T. Swingle's pistachios from Syria had already fruited well at Niles, California, by 1917.

Botany

Habitat

Pistachio is a desert plant and is highly tolerant of saline soil. It has been reported to grow well when irrigated with water having 3,000–4,000 ppm of soluble salts. Pistachio trees are fairly hardy in the right conditions and can survive temperatures ranging between in winter and in summer. They need a sunny position and well-drained soil. Pistachio trees do poorly in conditions of high humidity and are susceptible to root rot in winter if they get too much water and the soil is not sufficiently free-draining. Long, hot summers are required for proper ripening of the fruit.

Characteristics

The tree grows up to tall. It has deciduous, pinnate leaves long. The plants are dioecious, with separate male and female trees. The flowers are apetalous and unisexual and borne in panicles.

The fruit is a drupe, containing an elongated seed, which is the edible portion. The seed, commonly thought of as a nut, is a culinary nut, not a botanical nut. The fruit has a hard, cream-colored exterior shell. The seed has a mauve-colored skin and light green flesh, with a distinctive flavor. When the fruit ripens, the shell changes from green to an autumnal yellow/red and abruptly splits partly open. This is known as dehiscence, and happens with an audible pop. The splitting open is a trait that has been selected by humans. Commercial cultivars vary in how consistently they split open.

Each mature pistachio tree averages around of seeds, or around 50,000, every two years.

Cultivation

The pistachio tree may live up to 300 years. The trees are planted in orchards, and take around 7 to 10 years to reach significant production. Production is alternate-bearing or biennial-bearing, meaning the harvest is heavier in alternate years. Peak production is reached around 20 years. Trees are usually pruned to size to make the harvest easier. One male tree produces enough pollen for 8 to 12 drupe-bearing females. Harvesting in the United States and in Greece is often accomplished using equipment to shake the drupes off the tree. After hulling and drying, pistachios are sorted according to open-mouth and closed-mouth shells, then roasted or processed by special machines to produce pistachio kernels.

In California, almost all female pistachio trees are the 'Kerman' cultivar, from Kerman, Iran. A scion from a mature female 'Kerman' is grafted onto a one-year-old rootstock.

Diseases and environment

Pistachio trees are vulnerable to numerous diseases and infestation by insects such as ''Leptoglossus clypealis'' in North America. Among these is infection by the fungus '' Botryosphaeria'', which causes panicle and shoot blight (symptoms include death of the flowers and young shoots), and can damage entire pistachio orchards. In 2004, the rapidly growing pistachio industry in California was threatened by panicle and shoot blight first discovered in 1984. In 2011, anthracnose fungus caused a sudden 50% loss in the Australian pistachio harvest. Several years of severe drought in Iran around 2008 to 2015 caused significant declines in production.

Production

In 2020, global production of pistachios was about , with the United States and Turkey as leading producers, together accounting for 68% of the total (table). Secondary producers were Iran, China, and Syria.

A 2020 report indicated that nearly half of the global production of pistachios in 2019 came from the United States, with production in Iran falling to as low as 7% due to US trade sanctions against Iran, climate change, and weak economic and water management in Iran. Efforts to grow pistachios for international markets were made during 2019 in Georgia and adjacent Caucasus countries. More organic production is being promoted in Spain.

Consumption

The kernels are often eaten whole, either fresh or roasted and salted, and are also used in pistachio ice cream, kulfi, spumoni, pistachio butter, pistachio paste, and confections such as baklava, pistachio chocolate, pistachio halva, pistachio lokum or biscotti, and cold cuts such as mortadella. Americans make pistachio salad, which includes fresh pistachios or pistachio pudding, whipped cream, and canned fruit.

The shell of the pistachio is naturally a beige color, but it may be dyed red or green in commercial pistachios. Originally, dye was applied to hide stains on the shells caused when the nuts were picked by hand. In the 21st century, most pistachios are harvested by machine and the shells remain unstained.

Nutrition

Raw pistachios are 4% water, 45% fat, 28% carbohydrates, and 20% protein (table). In a 100-gram reference amount, pistachios provide of food energy and are a rich source (20% or more of the Daily Value or DV) of protein, dietary fiber, several dietary minerals, and the B vitamins thiamin (76% DV) and vitamin B₆ (131% DV) (table). Pistachios are a moderate source (10–19% DV) of calcium, riboflavin, vitamin B₅, folate, vitamin E, and vitamin K (table).

The fat profile of raw pistachios consists of saturated fats, monounsaturated fats and polyunsaturated fats. Saturated fatty acids include palmitic acid (10% of total) and stearic acid (2%). Oleic acid is the most common monounsaturated fatty acid (51% of total fat) and linoleic acid, a polyunsaturated fatty acid, is 31% of total fat. Relative to other tree nuts, pistachios have a lower amount of fat and food energy but higher amounts of potassium, vitamin K, γ-tocopherol, and certain phytochemicals such as carotenoids, and phytosterols.

Research and health effects

In July 2003, the United States Food and Drug Administration approved the first qualified health claim specific to consumption of seeds (including pistachios) to lower the risk of heart disease: "Scientific evidence suggests but does not prove that eating per day of most nuts, such as pistachios, as part of a diet low in saturated fat and cholesterol may reduce the risk of heart disease". Although a typical serving of pistachios supplies substantial food energy (nutrition table), their consumption in normal amounts is not associated with weight gain or obesity.

One review of preliminary research found that pistachio consumption lowered blood pressure in persons without diabetes mellitus. In a Systematic review published in 2021, authors found that pistachio consumption for three months or less significantly reduced triglyceride levels.

Toxin and safety concerns

As with other tree seeds, aflatoxin is found in poorly harvested or processed pistachios. Aflatoxins are potent carcinogenic chemicals produced by molds such as '' Aspergillus flavus'' and ''A. parasiticus''. The mold contamination may occur from soil, poor storage, and spread by pests. High levels of mold growth typically appear as gray to black filament-like growth. Eating mold-infected and aflatoxin-contaminated pistachios is unsafe. Aflatoxin contamination is a frequent risk, particularly in warmer and humid environments. Food contaminated with aflatoxins has been found as the cause of frequent outbreaks of acute illnesses in parts of the world. In some cases, such as Kenya, this has led to several deaths.

Pistachio shells typically split naturally prior to harvest, with a hull covering the intact seeds. The hull protects the kernel from invasion by molds and insects, but this hull protection can be damaged in the orchard by poor orchard management practices, by birds, or after harvest, which makes exposure to contamination much easier. Some pistachios undergo so-called "early split", wherein both the hull and the shell split. Damage or early splits can lead to aflatoxin contamination. In some cases, a harvest may be treated to keep contamination below strict food safety thresholds; in other cases, an entire batch of pistachios must be destroyed because of aflatoxin contamination.

Like other members of the family Anacardiaceae (which includes poison ivy, sumac, mango, and cashew), pistachios contain urushiol, an irritant that can cause allergic reactions.

See also

* List of culinary nuts
* ''Pistacia lentiscus''

References

External links

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{{Authority control

Pistacia
Edible nuts and seeds

Flora of Central Asia
Flora of Western Asia
Fruit trees
Trees of Mediterranean climate
Italian cuisine
Plants described in 1753
Drupes
Symbols of California