DESCRIPTION

Culinary nuts are typically dry edible seeds or fruits that have a high fat content. The pistachio, a member of the cashew family, is a small tree originating from Central Asia and the Middle East. The tree produces seeds that are widely consumed as food. Pistacia vera is often confused with other species in the genus Pistacia that are also known as pistachio. Pistachios are the seeds of the pistachio tree. They’re usually green and slightly sweet. They’re called nuts, but botanically pistachios are seeds. People have been eating them for thousands of years. The kernels can have different colors, ranging from yellow to shades of green. They’re usually about an inch long and half an inch in diameter. But if you want to taste one, you’ll have to crack open its hard shell first. The pistachio tree originated in western Asia, and archaeologists believe pistachios became a food as early as 7,000 B.C. They came to the United States in the mid-19th century and commercial production began in the 1970s.

World Production

• Worldwide 911,829 tonnes of pistachio is produced per year.
• Iran is the largest pistachio producer in the world with 337,815 tonnes production per year.
• United States of America comes second with 335,660 tonnes yearly production.
• Iran and United States of America produce together more than 70 % of world’s total pistachio.
• With 106,155 tonnes of production per year, China is the third largest producer of pistachio.

World Pistachio Production by Country

	Country	Production (Tons)	Production per Person (Kg)	Acreage (Hectare)	Yield (Kg / Hectare)
	Iran	337,815	4.132	411,432	821.1
	United States of America	335,660	1.024	116,950	2,870.1
	China	106,155	0.076	32,207	3,296
	Turkey	85,000	1.052	366,210	232.1
	Syria	31,813	1.74	59,989	530.3
	Greece	11,836	1.099	4,353	2,719
	Spain	7,545	0.162	20,415	369.6
	Madagascar	4,642	0.177	12,181	381.1
	Italy	3,873	0.064	3,870	1,000.8
	Tunisia	3,109	0.272	27,995	111.1
	Afghanistan	2,755	0.087	2,171	1,269
	Australia	1,559	0.062	1,488	1,047.7
	Kyrgyzstan	1,073	0.17	705	1,522
	Uzbekistan	909	0.028	3,023	300.7
	Pakistan	695	0.003	169	4,112.4
	Jordan	528	0.052	160	3,300
	Côte d’Ivoire	100	0.004	N/A	N/A
	Morocco	47	0.001	N/A	N/A
	Mexico	39	0	107	364.5
	Azerbaijan	26	0.003	9	2,888.9
	Cyprus	10	0.012	48	208.3
	Mauritius	4	0.003	N/A	N/A