Pistachios

For flavor, texture, and perhaps most of all color, nothing else in the nut world can equal the pistachio. It is without doubt the nut most associated with Middle Eastern and Mediterranean cuisine, where the ancient trees are a part of the culture. The nuts are used as a finishing touch for desserts, as a textural counterpoint for grain and vegetable dishes, and as a snack eaten out of hand.

Pistachios grow all over the Middle East, from Greece to Lebanon, and really anywhere with hot summer days and cool (but not freezing) winter nights, including California and even Sicily, which produces bright green nuts that are especially pretty in desserts and salads. To our palates, Iran grows the world’s best-tasting pistachios, but the tariffs on imported Persian goods make them prohibitively expensive for American consumers. (That said, if you happen to be traveling in Europe and come across Iranian pistachios, snap them up!)