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Talk:Pistachio

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Red dye

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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)[reply]

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)[reply]