Pistachios

[Deleted]

I bought the Antep variety from Ebay, and, so far, 4 of 20 have germinated in terracotta pots of wet sand.

The shells are covered with a pinkish skin.

The nuts are smaller than normal, but reportedly have an excellent flavor.

The grower says seedlings will be compatible.

I have found larger varieties of pistachio, sold as whole, raw, in shell, which tells me that it is a seed. But, they were meant for eating. All have rotted. I later learned that a minimum amount of heat treatment is required, in order for it to be sold as food. It is called raw, but they have put it under enough heat to kill the seed.

They are farmed in my region, but I have not yet gotten an opportunity to speak to a farmer.

[steev]

The only ones of which I'm familiar are grafted trees: Kerman females and Peters males. These seem to be the only commercial varieties available.

[Deleted]

I understand that Kerman is the biggest. Foreigners admire the form of the tree, but don't necessarily believe that biggest is always the best, which seems to be the trend in America.

Each region does have feelings of civic pride about their local variety, and Kerman is considered the American one.

The defining feature of the Antep pistachio (also a placename) is it's naturally pink skin. It reportedly tastes the strongest, in spite of it's smaller size.

This smallness is oftentimes exaggerated by the way it is shipped. Some cultures use the smallest possible specimens as seed, and save the larger ones for food. I think that westerners will tend to do the opposite, in the interest of breeding.

Usually, when I try taste tests, I have never once found any radical differences, but would be proud to have something so interesting in the garden. In the pictures, and in my hand it passes for a pistachio.

I have also found some seeds from Italy, reportedly cross pollinated. That is to say that they come from no named variety.

I believe they have suckers which might be cloned, and I will keep a lookout for sources of viable seed.