Damn I love Pistachios. But why are they so expensive?

[MagnusTheBrewer]

The Oompa Loompas that raise them unionized.

 

[IronWing]

Try a middle eastern grocery store. Some sell pistachios in bulk for pretty cheap. I want to try a pistachio tree in the backyard but I haven't won over my wife to the idea yet.

 

[Amused]

Originally posted by: CaptnKirk
Up until the Iranian Revalution, most of the worlds supply was grown in Iran, and we cut off trade with them.
In the US the growers began replacing the Almond Trees around Quartz Hill, Lancaster, and Bakersfield with Pistachios,
since they were losing their Almond trees to an unstoppable Almond Blight which was slowly killing off the trees.
Pistachios are either resistant or not affected by the Almond Blight, and they are now raised in that area of Southern California,
second only to Iran in the world supply - we still don't deal with Iran for our imports.
It takes 7 to 8 years from planting before a tree bears a viable quantity of nuts for harvest.

And 20 years to peak production.

That's a LOT of years with non-productive land. That's what you're paying for.

 

[IronWing]

Alamogordo, NM also has pretty big pistachio orchards.

 

[Locut0s]

Originally posted by: Amused

Originally posted by: CaptnKirk
Up until the Iranian Revalution, most of the worlds supply was grown in Iran, and we cut off trade with them.
In the US the growers began replacing the Almond Trees around Quartz Hill, Lancaster, and Bakersfield with Pistachios,
since they were losing their Almond trees to an unstoppable Almond Blight which was slowly killing off the trees.
Pistachios are either resistant or not affected by the Almond Blight, and they are now raised in that area of Southern California,
second only to Iran in the world supply - we still don't deal with Iran for our imports.
It takes 7 to 8 years from planting before a tree bears a viable quantity of nuts for harvest.

And 20 years to peak production.

That's a LOT of years with non-productive land. That's what you're paying for.

Wow thanks for the info. Those reasons certainly help explain the price.

 

[zinfamous]

b/c the only ones that are worth anything are imported from Iran. That, and not very efficient to produce.

 

[zinfamous]

Originally posted by: CaptnKirk
Up until the Iranian Revalution, most of the worlds supply was grown in Iran, and we cut off trade with them.
In the US the growers began replacing the Almond Trees around Quartz Hill, Lancaster, and Bakersfield with Pistachios,
since they were losing their Almond trees to an unstoppable Almond Blight which was slowly killing off the trees.
Pistachios are either resistant or not affected by the Almond Blight, and they are now raised in that area of Southern California,
second only to Iran in the world supply - we still don't deal with Iran for our imports.
It takes 7 to 8 years from planting before a tree bears a viable quantity of nuts for harvest.

Really? my family has been getting cases of Iranian pistachios from Iran every year for Christmas for several decades now (well, until my grandmother passed away 4 years ago...)

EDIT: ah, I was waaaay off.

 

[Gothgar]

I also love pistachios

 

[rezinn]

I bought 5 pounds of pistachios for about 25 dollars shipped off of woot.com a while back and they were great. They were from http://www.fiddymentfarms.com/, where you can still get them salted or non-salted or in all sorts of flavors. The in-shell bulk ones are the cheapest unless you want to buy about an alternators worth of them.

 

[jinduy]

this is nothing compared to weed

 

[CaptnKirk]

Originally posted by: jinduy
this is nothing compared to weed

Weed and munchies . . . together

 

[IronWing]

Originally posted by: CaptnKirk

Originally posted by: jinduy
this is nothing compared to weed

Weed and munchies . . . together

Pistachios are probably not the best choice for that application. A certain level of coordination is needed in prepping pistachios for consumption.

 

[ElFenix]

Originally posted by: zinfamous

Originally posted by: CaptnKirk
Up until the Iranian Revalution, most of the worlds supply was grown in Iran, and we cut off trade with them.
In the US the growers began replacing the Almond Trees around Quartz Hill, Lancaster, and Bakersfield with Pistachios,
since they were losing their Almond trees to an unstoppable Almond Blight which was slowly killing off the trees.
Pistachios are either resistant or not affected by the Almond Blight, and they are now raised in that area of Southern California,
second only to Iran in the world supply - we still don't deal with Iran for our imports.
It takes 7 to 8 years from planting before a tree bears a viable quantity of nuts for harvest.

Really? my family has been getting cases of Iranian pistachios from Iran every year for Christmas for several decades now (well, until my grandmother passed away 4 years ago...)

EDIT: ah, I was waaaay off.

Except for carpets and foodstuffs, and information or informational materials and gifts valued at $100 or less, the importation of Iranian-origin goods or services into the United States is prohibited.

http://travel.state.gov/travel...a_tw/cis/cis_1142.html

so you can get up to $100 in pistachios at a time (whether that's US market value or Irani market value, i dunno)