Pistachio
Pistacia vera
A dioecious desert tree. Split shells are a ripeness/processing feature. Heat and aridity help. Not a peanut.
GROW → HARVEST → EAT → DRY → POWDER → CAPSULE → GUMMY — forms are not equivalent. Food first.
Identity
What it is
A dioecious desert tree. Split shells are a ripeness/processing feature. Heat and aridity help. Not a peanut.
Edible portions
- seeds
Absence of a portion from this list means it is not treated as food here — not that every other part is toxic.
Growing
- Climate. 8–10 arid-heat with chill
- Light. Full sun, heat
- Soil. Very well-drained
- Planting. Male and female trees. Long wait from planting.
- Harvest. When hulls loosen; dry at once to avoid staining and mold.
Processing, drying, storage
- Storage. Dry; they mold if wet-hulled slowly. See also Make → Storage.
Preparation and culinary uses
- Out of hand, ice cream, savory Persian rice
Nutrition and compounds
- Minerals (qualitative). vitamin B6, potassium, protein — look up current USDA FoodData Central entries for numbers.
AAA interpretation Food first. These associations explain why a plant shows up in a nutrient conversation — they are not a supplement shopping list.
Next steps
Sources
- USDA PLANTS Database — taxonomy and range (verify current entries)
- USDA FoodData Central — nutrient profiles for foods (verify current entries; this page does not invent milligrams)
- State cooperative extension growing guides — verify for your region
Honest incompleteness is preferred to fabricated completeness. If a section is missing, no record for it is attached here — not a claim that the plant lacks that characteristic, and not that it was omitted as a secret.
Internal quality class A. Strong page: distinctive plant facts plus practical growing or kitchen use.