| Scientific name: | Pistacia vera |
| German name: | Pistazie |
| Classification: | Sapindales |
| Family: | Anacardiaceae |
| Subfamily: | Pistacioideae |
| Genus: | Pistacia |
| Season: | All year |
The pistachio has its origins in the Middle East, where it has been cultivated since ancient times. It spread across the Mediterranean and became an absolute delicacy for kings and travellers as well as for ordinary people. It is said that the then Queen of Saba, because of her personal passion, made pistachio an exclusively royal food, forbidding it to the common people. This could be one of the reasons why the nut is still considered today as a very noble addition to food.
Quantity per 100 grams
| Calories | 562 |
| Fat content | 45 g |
| Saturated fatty acids | 6 g |
| Polyunsaturated fatty acids | 14 g |
| Monounsaturated fatty acids | 24 g |
| Cholesterol | 0 mg |
| Sodium | 1 mg |
| Potassium | 1 mg |
| Carbohydrates | 28 g |
| Roughage | 10 g |
| Sugar | 8 g |
| Protein | 20 g |
The pistachio is a deep-rooted sumac plant that can grow up to 10 metres high. The Roman Emperor Vitellius first brought it from Syria to Italy in 65 AD, where European cultivation of the plant began. Although the bushy-looking pistachio trees can live up to 100 years, they only bear fruit every 2 years. The trees are cultivated in Africa, China, Greece, Iran, Italy, California, Mexico, Russia, Spain, Syria and Turkey, with half of the worldwide cultivation coming from Turkey.
The consumption of pistachios strongly stimulates the enzymes and hormones that regulate and activate the transport of oxygen. This can combat fatigue, infectious diseases and poor concentration.
Pistachios are used fresh or roasted and salted as a snack or to enrich desserts. But pistachio also develops its great taste in meat fillings, galantines, pastries, pâtés, pralines, ice cream, sausage products (often in mortadella) or pasta dishes. The thin skin around the core can be easily removed by pouring boiling water over the pistachio and immediately rinsing it with cold water.
Pistachios from Iran are burdened with twenty times the amount of poison , which are legal by law in Germany. In addition, an invisible, carcinogenic mould (aflatoxin) has often been found in pistachios from the Caspian Sea country.
However, healthy pistachios have not necessarily been regarded as slimming products up to now - after all, 100 g bring a proud 600 calories into play. Nevertheless, nutritionists have recently advised anyone who wants to lose weight to nibble on pistachios. Researchers at the University of California in Los Angeles, for example, have found in a study that pistachio fans lose weight faster: For more than three months, they gave 52 overweight test subjects who were on different diets either 45 g pistachios or 60 g savoury biscuits as snacks. The surprising result: although they contain far more fat than savoury biscuits, the healthy pistachios ensured that the test persons fed with them achieved a lower BMI value more quickly than the other group.
Unpeeled and airtight packed pistachios have a good shelf life of 2 months. However, they become rancid after only a few days. Their decorative colour and great aroma also disappear, making it very easy to recognise a spoiled pistachio.