Pistachios are seeds of the pistachio tree. Although pistachio is known for its nuts, it is a fleshy tree and its fruits are the seeds within the nutshells. Pistachio is a deciduous tree that needs dry lands, warm and temperature climate. In this article, we describe pistachio, its preservation, and its importance in healthy life completely.
Where are pistachios grown?
Producers in Central Asia and the Middle East such as Iran, Afghanistan, Uzbekistan, Syria, China, and Greece because of their dryland have been appropriate regions to grow pistachio. For example, well-known Iranian pistachio, Rafsanjan Pistachio, is cultivated in Kerman However Mediterannean region to California provided enough plants for farming pistachios.
Characteristics of Pistachio tree
The pistachio tree is a small tree of the cashew family that has wide-spread branches and often 50 feet with long taproots height. Each leaf of a pistachio plant has one to five leathery, thick and wide leaflets. There are no remarkable and special petals around the pistachio fruit.
Is pistachio a fruit or nut?
Pistachio plant is usually dioecious with separate male and female flowers that are pollinated in windy weather. So spring and summer wind is vital for harvesting healthy pistachio. In addition, it is better to be planted beside each other to produce fruits. Clusters of white drupe fruits are about 1.5 to 2 cm long. While pistachio nut is a dark green seed that is covered by a cream nutshell.
What is the process of growing pistachio nuts?
Pistachio nut grows and changes to the yellow and reddish drupe fruits until its shell gradually bursts along a seam. Then seeds are revealed easily. Nuts can be harvested easily by shaking the branches and catching them on traps.
What are the best conditions to care for a pistachio tree?
Cultivating pistachio trees is not a practical option for all individuals around the world. Specific environmental factors such as soil, water, humidity, and climate are needed for producers. It is including:
Light
Light is a crucial factor for the pistachio tree. Droughty and waterless areas such as desert plants provide enough light for this plant.
Soil
Soil is another element and the pistachio plant requires well-drained soils for instance sandy and loamy soils. Moreover, it withstands saline soil of desert regions
Water and humidity
Water and humidity in the least amount are bearable for the pistachio plant. Therefore winter cannot supply suitable conditions for the growth of this plant, because of high humidity and excessive water.
Climate
Climate plays a significant role in growing the pistachio plant. Pistachio trees can tolerate a range of climates. Optimal temperatures for these trees hover at about 100 degrees Fahrenheit in the scorching summer and below 45 degrees Fahrenheit in the frosty winter.
Sustainability of pistachios
Types of pistachio trees are compatible with specific weather circumstances. For example, Pistacia Atlantica is sustainable in front of the damage of temperature lower than 20 or 15 degrees Fahrenheit, While Pistacia integerrima is crucially vulnerable in the frizzy winter.
Fertilizer
The Pistachio plant grows slowly and adding fertilizers can be effective in its growth procedure. It is important to do soil tests before adding any fertilizer. Because it helps producers to add substances such as nitrogen, phosphorus, or potassium on a specific scale to the soil. The time of using fertilizers is another important option. For example, ammonium sulfate should be added monthly and between May and August.
Organic Fertilizers are beneficial for pistachio land. As a result, It is suggested to scratch about 25 pounds of well-composted manure on the soil
Fruit production
The first pistachio fruit can be harvested after 5 or 6 years of planting trees. S, it is expected to harvest about 5 pound pistachio nuts for the first time. After that, it is possible to collect pistachio fruit alternatively. While the pistachio plant can live over 150 years
Pruning Pistachio tree
The same as other fruit trees pruning is vital for the pistachio plant to get the best nut harvest.
Steps of pruning the pistachio tree
- Identify the main branches for growing trees when it is young enough
- Choose the branches that are situated around the trunk and avoid ones that are complete across each other.
- Crop all the branches below the lowest main selected branch about 24-32 inches above the soil.
- Other branches should be pruned approximately 4-6 inches in length.
Most common pistachio disease and pests
Different diseases and pests jeopardize pistachio fruit considerably. Invertebrates, weeds, pathogens, and nematodes are known factors that harm pistachio.
Alternaria Late Blight
Alternaria Late Blight can be seen on the hulls, leaves as black lesions. While these black lesions which are surrounded by red margins appear on the pistachio fruit. A high level of humidity and more moisture in the pistachio land are the main reasons for this disease.
Botryosphaeria dothidea
Botryosphaeria dothidea is another harmful that occurs on the leaves and fruits of almost all pistachio plants. Two infectious factors cause this disease. One of them affects trees in the spring. While the second one occurs on the wet summer days.
Botrytis cinerea
Cool and wet spring days are appropriate for Botrytis cinerea to damage pistachio fruit and leaves. This fungus infects male trees more intensively than female trees. As we mentioned high humidity is the major cause of this issue
Verticillium wilt
Verticillium wilt is one of the most destructive diseases of pistachio land. This kind of harmful fungus lives on the soil and invades the root tissues of trees. Planting resistant rootstocks are the best survival idea to help weak pistachio trees.
Navel Orangeworm
Navel Orangeworm is a pest that feeds on the pistachio fruit and nuts and declines the yield. While protecting trees from this pest increases the production cost.
Difficulties throughout the cultivating, preservation and harvesting of pistachio nut are tolerable for producers because the eating pistachio nut plays an undeniable role in improving healthy life.
What are the benefits of the pistachio nut?
People make a concerted effort to improve their healthy life. The ketogenic diet is a familiar example for individuals who have decided to follow a low carbohydrate diet. Patients should use the pistachio nut as one of the most useful ingredients.
Loaded with nutrients
Pistachios are nutritious because contain a wide variety of substances in each ounce such as:
- 159 Calories
- 8 grams carbohydrate
- 3 grams fiber
- 6 grams protein
- 13 grams fat
- 6% of RDI Potassium
- 11% of RDI Phosphorus
- 28% of RDI Vitamin B6
- 21% of RDI Thiamine
- 41% of RDICopper
- 15% of RDI Manganese
It is better to know that the above components can be useful based on Reference Daily Intake (RDI).
Decreasing the rate of heart disease
Pistachios kernel is cholesterol-free and beneficial for treating cardiovascular disease. Findings of current studies indicate that eating the pistachio nut results in decreasing the LDL level and increasing the amount of HDL. As a result, eating kernels improves blood pressure. As a result, decrease the rate of your heart attack
Promoting blood vessel health
According to the role of the pistachio nut in reducing cholesterol, eating kernels leads to vasodilation. Furthermore, their nitric oxide would be effective noticeably in this process and ensure your heart health
Reduction in blood pressure
The least amount of carbohydrate in the pistachio kernel plays an important role in declining blood pressure. Moreover, a significant amount of fiber, vitamin, and minerals of the pistachio nut would be effective in reducing your cholesterol level and blood pressure
Promoting healthy gut bacteria
Fiber and protein of the pistachio kernel move through your digestive system and prompt profitable bacteria. As a result, you experience improving your digestive system conspicuously.
Losing weight
The pistachio nut is one of the popular weight loss-friendly nuts. Eating this nutritious nut gives you part of the fiber, protein, and other substances without requiring high-calorie snacks. While it decreases the LDL level, improves your heart health, and finally increases life expectancy.
Packed with antioxidant
Antioxidants are vital in decreasing the rate of detrimental diseases such as cancer and immune system deficiency disorders. The pistachio nut that is loaded with antioxidants plays a critical role in improving your health.
The benefits of the pistachio kernel are not limited to the above items. You can use the pistachio nut in various salads and sauces. However, roasted pistachios with fresh pistachios are used in the recipes of Italian, Indian and Iranian dishes. So, It is important to know how to store various types of pistachio nuts.
What is the best way to store pistachios?
According to the storage circumstances you can use pistachio nuts without any problem. The temperature and humidity are two important factors to store nuts easily. For example, the length of storage at room temperature is shorter than freezer and refrigerator. You can use three following suggestions to store the pistachios kernel.
Using airtight containers
Using different airtight containers plays a significant role in storing pistachios especially fresh pistachios and in shell or shelled pistachios. For this purpose, you can use airtight containers such as:
- Glass containers are on the list of popular airtight containers because of its component that is not harmful to a healthy life.
- Plastic containers are lightweight and suitable for carrying food. However, its materials are comparatively harmful to individuals’ health and nature.
- Acrylicas a kind of plastic container is more durable and practical than other kinds of plastic containers.
- Stainless steelcontainer is the other resistant airtight container. Although there are different sizes of these containers to preserve salted pistachios, unsalted pistachios, or fresh ones, they are not useful because of their heavy materials and difficulties in moving.
Regardless of materials, airtight containers are utilized in different shapes and sizes for storing pistachios.
Using re-sealable bags
It is suggested to use re-sealable bags for storing fresh pistachios. This solution helps you to decrease the amount of absorbed moisture. ISTAD bag is one of the popular re-sealable bags because it keeps in shell and shelled pistachios fresh in the freezer. This bag lets you reseal and use your bag again and again.
Rubber band or tape
If you want to store your pistachios kernel for more than a few hours, you can wrap a rubber band around the bag or reseal it with a piece of tape completely.
International pistachios trade
Iranian Pistachio is popular around the world and plays a considerable role in this competitive marketing. While European countries have the concentrated markets of pistachio as well as the USA markets that have participated in this international industry in 2021 stronger than ever. Their productions reached 476,000 metric tons in 2020/21, while European Union markets decreased to 100,000 metric tons at the same time.
Iran pistachio industry
Iran is one of the most famous pistachio traders and all types of this nut such as in shell and shelled pistachios are sold all around. Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, Iranian trade has fluctuated the same as other countries in 2020- 2021. Nonetheless, Iranian dried fruit and nut suppliers are still on the top of the list of Iranian pistachio exports by now. The pistachio nut and its products such as pistachio paste, diced pistachio kernels, and pistachio powder are sold globally. Iranian traders face common difficulties during this procedure such as:
- Necessity of more investment. The nut supplier should invest more to export Iranian pistachio globally
- Using traditional business strategies. Despite modern international markets, some of the experienced traders used to follow traditional ways.
- Lack of governmental support nuts suppliers are confronted with a lack of governmental support in different aspects of pistachio trade crucially in terms of foreign exchange reserves.
- High export tariffs in foreign customs. Iranian traders are forced to pay high export tariffs for fast shipping pistachios internationally
- Challenging transportation system. The other common issue that almost all of the suppliers are faced with is invalid systems for fast shipping. So, a noticeable ratio of pistachios will deteriorate during long-distance transportation.
Although there are a wide variety of issues, first-class suppliers participate in international trade. Noshid Company is a well-known nuts supplier that plays an important role in global markets.
Noshid has a wide variety of international services such as competitive pricing, a variety of products, and different types of containers for fast shipping. As a result, this fruit and nuts supplier stands at the top of the list of pistachio merchants.
Noshid company productions
Noshid Company exports five main pistachios that are introduced in the following:
Jumbo pistachio
Jumbo pistachio is the most popular Iranian pistachio that supplies about 70% of Jumbo pistachio in the world. Rafsanjan is the best region for cultivating Jumbo pistachio. Noshid Company has concentrated on the exportation of this pistachio nut because of its natural flavor and extra-large kernels.
Long pistachio
Long pistachio which is well known as smiling pistachio in Iran, has long shapes with beautiful green seeds in the nutshell. This pistachio nut has excessive percentages of protein, fats, fiber, and antioxidants. So it is the best choice of Noshid Company for international trade.
Semi Long pistachio
Semi long pistachio is medium size pistachio that has an exclusive taste. Faizabad Mahwalat region which is located in Khorasan province has the optimal environment to grow pistachio, crucially Semi long pistachio. Noshid Company that implemented high standards of global markets follows the procedures of Semi long pistachio from growing to exportation.
Super Long pistachio
Super long pistachio or Akbari pistachio is famous around the world because of its premium quality, freshness, and superb taste. This is the main reason that Noshid company allocated part of its international trade to Super long pistachio.
Round pistachio
Round pistachio or Fandoghi is another pistachio with good taste and bright color. It is the mega resource of fiber and antioxidants. Athletes and the young tend to have it in their low cholesterol diet. Furthermore, Round pistachio is popular because of its economical and compatibility in international markets. A wider scope of advantages encouraged Noshid Company to export Round pistachio the same as other types of pistachios.
And the last thought
Pistachios are small fleshy plants with green seeds in hard shells. Specific environmental circumstances should be provided to grow pistachio. While it is necessary to use storage ways such as airtight containers and resealed bags to store them for a long time. As a result, using appropriate packages helps you to make best use of the advantages of fresh and healthy pistachio kernels. While high-quality standards of exportation are used by Noshid Company to export Jumbo pistachio, long pistachio, semi long pistachio, super long pistachio, and round pistachio in international markets.