Pistachio
Pistachios are vividly green, mildly sweet nuts central to Middle Eastern and Persian sweets, and prized elsewhere for the striking color and rich flavor they bring to desserts and savory dishes alike.
How to buy
Shelled pistachios should look vibrant green with a thin purple-tinged skin, and should smell sweet and mild rather than stale. In-shell pistachios are often roasted and salted for snacking, and a naturally split shell makes them easy to open.
How to store
Store shelled pistachios in an airtight container; refrigerating or freezing keeps them fresh for several months, since their oil content makes them prone to rancidity faster than drier nuts.
Culinary profile
- Flavor
- Sweet, rich, and faintly grassy with a distinct flavor unlike other nuts, intensified by light toasting and especially prominent when ground fine for desserts.
- Texture
- Firm and crunchy whole, pistachios turn smooth and slightly sticky when ground into paste, used in sweets and fillings.
- Aroma
- A sweet, nutty, faintly floral smell, more pronounced once toasted or ground.
How to prepare
- Roasted and salted — Roasted in the shell and salted for snacking.
- Ground for desserts — Ground fine into a paste or powder used in pastries, ice cream, and candy.
- Chopped for garnish — Chopped and scattered over desserts and savory dishes for color and crunch.
- Crusted onto meat — Ground and pressed onto lamb or fish as a crunchy, flavorful crust.
Classic dishes
American
- Watergate salad — A retro American dessert salad combining pistachio pudding, whipped topping, and pineapple.
Italian
- Pistachio gelato — A rich, pale green Italian ice cream flavored with ground pistachios, especially associated with Sicily.
- Pesto di pistacchi — A Sicilian pesto made from the pistachios of Bronte, blended with olive oil and cheese.
- Pistachio cannoli — Crisp Sicilian pastry shells filled with sweetened ricotta and dipped in crushed pistachios.
- Pistachio biscotti — Crisp, twice-baked cookies studded with pistachios.
Indian
- Pistachio kulfi — A dense, slow-churned Indian frozen dessert flavored with ground pistachios and cardamom.
- Pistachio barfi — A dense, fudge-like Indian sweet made from ground pistachios, sugar, and milk.
French
- Pistachio macarons — French almond meringue cookies flavored and filled with pistachio paste.
Mediterranean
- Pistachio-crusted lamb — A rack of lamb coated in ground pistachios before roasting for a crunchy herbed crust.
Greek
- Aegina pistachio sweets — Cookies and spoon sweets built on the prized pistachios of the Greek island of Aegina.
Middle Eastern
- Baklava with pistachios — Layers of flaky phyllo filled with ground pistachios and soaked in sweet syrup.
- Gaz — A Persian nougat studded with pistachios and almonds, flavored with rosewater.
- Muhallebi with pistachio — A milk pudding topped with crushed pistachios and rosewater syrup.
- Persian jeweled rice — A festive rice dish studded with pistachios, barberries, and candied orange peel.
- Turkish delight with pistachio — Soft, chewy Turkish confection studded with chopped pistachios.