This is the age of virtual travel—and my latest destination this past week was California, where I saw pistachios being harvested from trees, which, as I learnt later, can live up to 300 years. The United States (mainly California, New Mexico and Arizona) and Iran are responsible for 72 per cent of world’s pistachio production, although most of us labour under the misinformation that Iran is the primary source of the nuts.
After getting a ringside view of the harvest, a group of journalists and bloggers brought together by the Food Bloggers Association of India (FBAI) joined our colleagues in China and the United States for a cookery class conducted by Nancy Silverton, the much-honoured California chef and restaurateur who is famous for having popularised sourdough and artisan breads in the United States. In India, you associate pistachios with desserts—from barfi to kheer and kulfi—and the view is strengthened by their profuse presence in baklava and Turkish delights. Silverton showed how you can put the nuts to good use in savoury dishes too. Her roasted cauliflower with a pistachio crumble and green onion crème fraiche looked positively delicious. Sadly, you can’t taste when you go virtual.