Have you also noticed that there are more and more pistachios in our lives? Artisan pastries that exude green cream, jars of spreads that appear on supermarket shelves, ice cream in which these dried fruits are already real or chopped on pizzas or salads … The fever for this product that can be much more than a simple snack for its multiple gastronomic uses, has its roots in Castile-La Mancha and seems to have arrived to stay.
“Oil has a long tradition in my family, we are the fourth generation to have olive trees. The resemblance of the pistachio tree to the cornicabra made us fall in love from the first moment,” tells us Belén García Castro from the Octavio restaurant in Ciudad Real. Be surprised when you see it: although the olive tree and the pistachio tree do not look very similar, they often share a growing area: this is the case in Syria, Turkey, Greece and Italy, where they are traditional autochthonous crops for centuries.
Welcome Mr. Pistachio
Pistachios arrived in Castile-La Mancha in the late 1990s and it is only in the last decade that their cultivation has spread rapidly. Today 82% of the Spanish crop is produced in this municipality and it spreads to Andalusia and Aragon. “With this little revolution that has taken place, a lot more pistachios are being planted and, as a result, reaching our kitchens a lot more,” Belén continues.
A few years ago, they introduced this fruit to their restaurant, taking advantage of its texture for some main courses like saddle of venison and its resemblance to almonds for some desserts. “It was easy to incorporate them into our recipes because they end up being very Mediterranean dishes, with textures like game. If our kitchen knows anything, it is closeness, emotions and those who fight for the field day after day.”
All of the people I spoke to for this article emphasized the field. Almost like a slogan one should start talking about the pistachios and the topic of rural exodus comes up and how the pistachios have breathed life back into empty fields. There are also those who have decided to exchange one crop for another, abandon crops or uproot olive trees and vines. The reason is the pistachio’s high profitability as soon as it starts producing, which is not the case until six or seven years ago.
The danger of the bubble
While talking to me about his pistachio petit four, Jesús Segura argues a bit about this explosion. “The pistachios are expensive, yes, but if everyone starts planting them now, what will happen 10 years from now?” At his three restaurants in Cuenca — the historic Trivio and the recently opened Casas Colgadas and Casa de la Sirena — Jesús pays special attention on the products of his land and the pistachios have also found their way into his kitchens. “We made duck ravioli with pistachio truffle sauce, we made pistachio tempeh… Now we have it in a petit four, we call it El pistachio tira al monte: we have a creamy cheese from La Goat Tira al cheese factory Monte compiled, 20 kilometers from Cuenca, with the pistachio in textures”.
Driving along the provincial roads of La Mancha, one can easily see the new pistachio plantations: young trees with thin trunks, with feathers of red fruits, in rows. In its original habitat, the pistachio is a rain-fed plant, but in Spain it is mainly cultivated in irrigated areas, so that the yield is higher.
It may be interesting to see the key figures: in Spain we consume about 10,000 tons of pistachios a year, especially for nibbling. Most of it is imported from Iran and California, which together with Turkey account for 90% of world production. The Spanish harvest is still small – about 3,000 tons – but it is growing year by year, mostly focusing on organic farming and quality.
Restoration has a lot to say
Translating the meaning of the product into the restaurant kitchen is in many cases taken on by Carlos Torres of the European Pistachio Company, a name that crops up in many conversations with chefs. “Carlos is also a chef,” Belén García Castro tells me, “and we have a lot of synergies in common: it gives us a special feeling with him, not only because he is a supplier, but because he shares our concerns.”
His are also the pistachios in the kitchen of Ancestral in Illescas (Toledo). Here, Víctor Gonzalo Infantes works everything with fire and embers, including pistachios. “It’s a dish I made last fall, when Ancestral was still Aleño.” Víctor uses the pistachios in fall, just after harvest, in game dishes, which traditionally use another dried fruit, the almond. “I roast them on the grill and then add them to the Pepitoria sauce that accompanies the pigeon sweetbreads. I like the smoothness it gives to stews and that hint of turpentine it has.”
Season and tradition, just like Mesón Octavio’s pandorguitas. “They come from a popular folk festival in Ciudad Real, the Pandorga. Celebrated on July 31st, it is the occasion to celebrate the end of the harvest when the Virgen del Prado is sacrificed,” Belén explains to me. Aurora, her sister, decided to create a sweet that would add the flavors of that day: wine and lemon, fundamental ingredients of the La Mancha Zurra. The wine bun is coated with a lemon cream and rounded off with a pistachio crunch.
dessert time
It’s hard to talk about pistachios and candy without thinking about ice cream. Until recently, with a bit of luck, we could see Bronte pistachios in the windows of Spanish ice cream parlors; Sicilian and which currently has the only DO (Denomination of Origin) in Europe. But the pistachios from La Mancha are also starting to find their way here, which makes sense considering it is a quality product that defines a territory.
Adolfo Romero also uses pistachios from Carlos Torres in his ice cream parlor in Puertollano (Ciudad Real). “Compared to what I used before,” he tells me, “the flavor is more intense and lasts longer in the mouth.” He has been using manchego pistachios for 8 years and works them in his workshop. “I roast it in an oven and then grind it in a knife machine to make my own pistachio paste. Later, in the ice cream, I add the same pistachio, but in grains and without toasting: raw it is softer and the flavor is more appreciated”. Long live the manchego pistachio!
where to buy it
The White Estate
The pistachio plantation is divided into three plots with a total of 22.5 hectares, the largest is the eponymous Finca El Blanco with around 6,200 trees over 20 years old (which has a positive effect on the quality and volume of the fruit). ).
49 pistachios
In 49 pistachios they also grow in Castilla la Mancha, they dry and roast the pistachios at low temperature, with all the accumulated experience of traditional methods and the latest roasting technology. They have traditional and organic farming.
Manchego passion
In the Pasión Manchega they work with the Kerman and Larnaca varieties, which they consider to be the tastiest in the world; all organically grown. In addition to being toasted with or without salt, they are caramelized and prepared with a chocolate coating.
Manna Pistachios
The Maná pistachios grown in Villarobledo are one of the few that you can buy raw – dried at a temperature of 38 degrees -, large (22-23 caliber) and in a wide variety of sizes and formats (in shell or shelled, split, Etc). They also offer it roasted and in paste, and also produce olive oil, cashews, almonds, and cosmetic pistachio oil if you want to take advantage of the shipping cost.
Anton Calero farm
For years, Finca Antón Calero in La Mancha has been working with sustainable means to harvest rain-fed pistachios (alongside Marcona almonds and cashews) of the highest quality. They sell them raw with or without the shell and roasted with low salt. If you don’t know which of their fruits to go for, you can always opt for the tasting pack which includes a good amount of everything they produce.