Pistachios are having a moment. At The Park, the new London restaurant from legendary restaurateur Jeremy King, there’s a pistachio tiramisu of vast, unctuous nuttiness, a green goddess of a pudding.
St John Bakery has a pistachio doughnut, and Soho’s Dear Jackie, a Taylor Swift favourite, serves pork with roasted peach, rainbow chard and pistachios. Down in Cornwall, chef Paul Ainsworth scatters them on mortadella flat bread.
And as if you needed more proof, McDonalds has released a pistachio McFlurry – although only in Italy, so far.
Waitrose recently launched a pistachio tiramisu, as well as pistachio pannacotta, while Asda has a pistachio croissant, and Marks and Spencer is rightly proud of its £20 three layer pistachio and raspberry cake.
And now the brands are getting on board. Magnum ice creams now come in pistachio as do Lindt Lindor truffles, the gobstopper-shaped chocolates with a beguilingly smooth ganache filling.
It’s a more significant move than it seems. Pistachios are among the most expensive nuts in the world, pipped only by macadamias. Adding pistachio to a dish adds significantly to the cost. So how much actual pistachio do these treats contain?
The best, Grom ice cream, has 14.5 per cent pistachio (12 per cent paste; 2.5 per cent pieces), but those pistachio Lindor have just 1.3 per cent, and some ice creams have even less. No wonder pistachios are sometimes called “green gold.”
On the supermarket shelves, it’s worth scrutinising the label closely for pistachio content. In ice cream, it is definitely an indicator of the flavour you’ll get out at the end. Flavouring can be more almond or sesame based, unsatisfying to the real pistachio groupie.
Best and worst supermarket pistachio products
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