Discover our pistachio latte range of health benefit guides and find out more about the health benefits of nuts. Of all the tree nuts, pistachios are particularly high in these compounds with only walnuts and pecans providing more. Pistachios are also a useful source of the amino acid L-arginine, which we convert to the blood pressure-lowering compound, nitric oxide. Research on healthy adults also suggests adding pistachios to a high-carb meal may lower our overall blood sugar response.
Similar benefits have been seen in studies examining the blood sugar effects of pistachio nuts on those with type 2 diabetes. Are pistachio nuts safe for everyone? People with an allergy to tree nuts should avoid pistachios. Allergy symptoms normally develop within minutes, and you should see your GP if you experience an adverse reaction. However, if this develops into a severe reaction, known as anaphylaxis, it is a medical emergency and immediate help should be sought.
Young children, some older people and those with a problem swallowing should avoid whole nuts due to the risk of choking. Visit the NHS website to read more about allergies. Discover more pistachio recipes in our collection. This article was published on 13 December 2021. Over the last 15 years she has been a contributing author to a number of nutritional and cookery publications including BBC Good Food.
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This article is about the culinary nut and the tree that bears it. 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.
The pistachio tree is native to regions of Central Asia, including present-day Iran and Afghanistan. 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. Theophrastus described it as a terebinth-like tree with almond-like nuts from Bactria.
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 Mexico and California, where it was introduced in 1854 as a garden tree. 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.
Pistachio is a desert plant and is highly tolerant of saline soil. The plants are dioecious, with separate male and female trees. 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 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. 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. Pistachio trees are vulnerable to numerous diseases and infestation by insects such as Leptoglossus clypealis in North America. In 2020, global production of pistachios was about 1. Secondary producers were Iran, China, and Syria.