Arg! No!

[lissomllama]

I was searching on yahoo for some info on pistachios because I was curious about their history and I found a link titled 'red pistachios' and I thought "oh cool, pistachios grow red as well" and I clicked the link. Look at these things! They look like little spray painted monsters! I can't understand why painting/dyeing a beautiful pistachio nut could ever have been considdered a good idea, those can't even be edible.

http://www.nutsonline.com/nuts/pistachios/red.html

[JennaBoBenna]

Oh gosh! I've seen those in gas station markets and stuff--weird!!

I really want pistachios now...but not red ones :p

[Coriander74]

Those look like alien nuts made over for the holidays. Yuck lol

[Sharon in Colorado]

When I was young I'd eat those red pistacious all the time. They would make my fingers red. I never realized that they were dyed until I went to the Farmer's Market and learned that they aren't supposed to be like that. I really thought that the 'natural' ones would not taste as good. Suprisingly they tasted just fine, LOL. :p

[healthisraw1]

I too used to eat those and never thought twice about thier color.

you should see me at the store, i read every label and in the produce section touch, smell, squeeze etc to the fruit and veggies.

being male I get some funny looks. I think some expect a man to be like that commercial where a guy goes shopping looks flabergasted and goes to Carls Jr.

sometimes for fun ill grab something with rediculous ingredient lists and go up to someone ask "are you a chemist, what is brominated vegetable oil"?

or ester of wood rosin"

Then they usually put down the product and move on.

I saw Anna Miller put glue bottles where the bread was at a store to make a point. She Rawks and so does her husband Rob, I miss them.

oh well Im RAWbling on

good post thanks and have a GRATEFUL DAY

Bill

[Judy]

Can anyone please inform me about pistachios in general? I mean, I only know the roasted, salted ones, thóse are certainly not raw? Where would you get raw pistachios? And do you have to crack them yourself? I've read once they needed to be roasted so the shell would open up and for the nut to become edible or something.
I'll do a google search right now, but any additional info is welcome!

[desertroadrunner]

I heard on a raido program once that pistachios were painted to hide the discoloration of some of the nuts. Sometimes they turn dark for some reason. They're not bad they're just dark and people would buy them because they thought they were bad so, they started painting them. There is some procress now that keeps them from turning dark. That's why there are an abundance of natural colored pistachios, but the people who are used to them being red still want the red ones. That's why they still paint them using safe dye of course. What a mess those things are impossible to eat without staining everything in site!

[Judy]

Okay, I found a link about pistachios:
http://www.vegparadise.com/highestperch35.html

I also see you can order them online in America. Now to find a store here in The Netherlands that carries them! *must have pistachios, MUST...*

[Judy]

Hmm, an online store here in The Netherlands carries them... They're raw, but unfortunately not organic... They don't come cheap either... Little sigh.
Anyway, has anyone ever made raw pistachio ice cream and would like to share the recipe?

[Veganforlife]

Here's another link:
http://www.nutsonline.com/nuts/pistachios/raw-no-shell.html

Here's a recipe:

Pistachio Passion Ice Cream
This will get anyone hooked on raw foods!

1 cup coconut water
1 ½ cup pistachio milk (blend 1 cup soaked pistachios with 2 1/2 cups water, strain through nut milk bag)
1 cup chopped young coconut meat
2 tbs. coconut oil
¼ cup agave nectar
¼ cup chopped dates
Seeds from ¼ sun dried vanilla bean
2 pinches of salt

How to: Blend everything till smooth. Pour batter in ice cube trays and freeze until frozen. Using a Champion juicer with the blank attachment, feed the juicer the frozen ice cream cubes. Watch how it transforms into soft serve ice cream! Garnish with chopped pistachios and mango syrup.

[madmel]

argh, I think they look disgusting...

[Lay-Lay]

I remember my mom eating these when I was little. She used to put them and peanuts in he coca cola

[luckitri]

Well ours were more pink color and the dye was on the shell only and yes it did stain everything. My dad wanted pistachio everything - even pistachio ice cream. When I saw the (sad) pistachio ice cream I was shocked because I fully expected it to be pink like the nuts....I was a kid.

[lissomllama]

Can anyone please inform me about pistachios in general? I mean, I only know the roasted, salted ones, thóse are certainly not raw? Where would you get raw pistachios? And do you have to crack them yourself? I've read once they needed to be roasted so the shell would open up and for the nut to become edible or something.
I'll do a google search right now, but any additional info is welcome!

Oh man, they taste so good raw. As far as I know, they naturally split open at the top when they're 'ripe' and you just remove the two little halves. I find them raw at Trader Joe's market already shelled and in a bag labelled raw (that's the only place I've found them raw before though. I'd be sad without my raw pistachios. They taste better and look better when raw. It's easy to tell. I like them far better than cashews.

[juliebove]

When I was a kid, the only pistachios I remember were red. I thought that's what color they naturally were! Then about 20some years ago, the store where I was working got in a small shipment of white ones for the holidays. Of course they cost a lot more than the red ones. I then assumed it was a special "gourmet" variety. Imagine my surprise when I discovered the nut inside was the same as the red ones.

I think pecans are another nut that used to be dyed, although I just did a search on it and can't seem to find any info. I just remember when I was a kid, pecan shells were always red when you bought them at the store. I wondered about this because we had pecan trees at our church and the ones I picked there had a brown shell. Now when you buy them, they have a brown shell which leads me to believe they were dyed for a while.

[Sharon in Colorado]

It appears that pistachios have a natural pinkish tint to them on the tree:

http://www.zenobianut.com/aboutpistach.asp

[Sheryl]

Same here... 20 years ago all pecans and pistachios in Canada I ever had were dyed red. Not shiny bright red like the photo linked to above though.

Sheryl

[lissomllama]

Gosh, I feel so sorry for you guys, that the many of your first experiences with pistachios was a processed, dyed, roasted joke.

More people need to experience the wonder of raw pistachios. Mmmm, the worst creamiest, softest nut. It's almost like eating a little mini-avocado, but better.

[codajess]

I haven't eaten red salted pistachios in a long time, but I used to LOVE them. My fingers and mouth would turn red, it was great!

I also read the same thing as desertroadrunner, that they were dyed to hide the imperfections in color.

[Sharon in Colorado]

[FONT=Georgia]Gosh, I feel so sorry for you guys, that the many of your first experiences with pistachios was a processed, dyed, roasted joke.
[FONT]

Hey watch it, ya whippersnapper! We loved them red things we were ignorantly eating!

Although, it is rather interesting how when you get older you learn that things aren't always the way they seem.