The internet is full of fabulous facts about everything from current events to the history basket weaving and pistachio fun facts. As we research for our daily content on food trucks, food carts and street food, we stumble upon some items of knowledge that we just did not know.

We have decided when these fun facts pop up, that we would share them with our readers in our section titled “Did You Know?”

For today’s Did You Know we will look at Pistachio fun facts.

Pistachio Fun Facts: Pistachios come in many colors. Many different countries dye pistachios to make them more eye-catching. In the U.S. pistachios were dyed red to disguise imperfections in the shells and to make them stand out in vending machines. They are normally green.

  • 98% of the pistachios produced in the United States are from California. Iran is the largest producer of pistachios in the world.
  • February 26 is National Pistachio Day.
  • Pistachios are one of the oldest flowering nut trees, and are one of the only two nuts mentioned in the Bible (Genesis 43:11). Humans have eaten pistachio nuts for at least 9,000 years.
  • According to legend, pistachios were featured in the fabled Hanging Gardens of Babylon, built about 700 B.C. by King Nebuchadnezzar for his wife Amytis.
  • In the first century A.D., Emperor Vitellius introduced Rome to the pistachio. Apicius, Rome’s Julia Child of the first century, includes pistachios in his classical cookbook.
  • Perhaps a true royal nut, the Queen of Sheba loved pistachios. In fact, she demanded that the entire region’s pistachio harvest be set aside for her.
  • Pistachios are related to the mango and the spice sumac.
  • In China the pistachio is known as “the happy nut” and in Iran as “the smiling nut”. Pistachios are also known as “the green almond”.

Pistachio Fun Facts We Missed

Please feel free to let us know if we may have missed some pistachio fun facts in the comment section below. We always love to add to these lists. If we can verify that the facts is just that, a fact, we will give the reader credit in the article.

Reference: Wikipedia: Fun Facts about the Pistachio

Find all of the National Food Holidays to spice up your food truck menu specials throughout the year.