"In Iran, more than 50 varieties are cultivated, not counting the great number of wild pistachios. But even today, the vast majority of California’s pistachio trees are Kerman."
would be interesting if local producers got into this. given the prevalence of boutique tomatoes and the like, I could see this working.
how far off from Turkish pistachios are they? I can get those through nuts.com and a few other places and they are certainly different from what we encounter in the super market.
Pretty far. Iranian pistachios are identical to Californian pistachios, just red in color. Commenter above probably is influenced by the red dye and in a blind taste would fail to distinguish between the two. Turkish/Armenian pistachios on the other hand are smaller, more elongated and if salted typically are packaged with coarser salt. I prefer the latter, although they can be more pain to peel.
How do you source/buy these different kinds? I've mostly had Californian pistachios, and I think they're amazing. But I keep hearing about the Iranian/Turkish varieties which is probably where the pistachio plant is native to.
