Talk:Pistachio

Red dye

As I recall, in the US in the 1950s, all pistachio shells were red. Then, quite suddenly, I never saw any dyed shells. Was there a discovery or law that caused this rapid change? The current text does not reflect this sudden change. Kdammers (talk) 01:03, 4 January 2022 (UTC)

Kdammers - When Iran dominated the world pistachio market decades ago, a red dye was used to disguise natural undesired color blemishes on the shells, as explained here. Improved harvesting methods in years since eliminated a need for the dye. That HuffPost article and another source say that the Iran hostage crisis of 1979 halted demand for Iran's products under embargo, including red pistachios, at a time when California's pistachio industry was growing with different cultivation and harvesting methods that prevented any shell discoloration, enabling sales of the natural shell and nut we have today. If you check the article history, the HuffPost article was used to support content explaining this under Botany/Characteristics. I moved and copyedited this segment under the Consumption section now. Zefr (talk) 02:19, 4 January 2022 (UTC)

Wild Distribution map

Because this map is so far zoomed in (and also unlabelled), most people would have no idea where in the world it is. Someone who's really up on their geography might recognize the shapes of the Caspian Sea and the Persian Gulf, and would be able to say "the distribution area seems to be centered on Turkmenistan". But most readers would be completely puzzled. --ABehrens (talk) 23:36, 26 April 2025 (UTC)

Agree. It's a poorly-prepared map, and was removed. Sufficient information about range is represented in the production section and table. Zefr (talk) 23:46, 26 April 2025 (UTC)