A pistachio is a small greenish nut with a hard shell that splits partly open when it ripens.
From Italian 'pistacchio', from Latin 'pistacium', from Greek 'pistakion', from a Persian word for the nut. The tree has been cultivated in the Middle East for thousands of years.
The shell’s natural split is the plant’s way of saying 'seed ready for travel', and we’ve turned that into a snack you crack with your fingers. Some cultures call pistachios the 'smiling nut' because the open shell looks like a tiny grin.
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