WEBVTT - Why Do Pistachios' Color Depend on the Iran Hostage Crisis?

0:00:01.920 --> 0:00:06.520
<v Speaker 1>Welcome to Brainstuff, a production of I Heart Radio, Hey

0:00:06.559 --> 0:00:11.200
<v Speaker 1>brain Stuff Lauren Vogelbaum here. Pistachios are a tasty seed

0:00:11.280 --> 0:00:13.960
<v Speaker 1>that grow on trees and have cream colored shells and

0:00:14.120 --> 0:00:18.520
<v Speaker 1>green colored flesh. A pistachio green is a specific hue,

0:00:19.160 --> 0:00:21.880
<v Speaker 1>soft yellowish green that was super popular in the fall

0:00:21.920 --> 0:00:26.239
<v Speaker 1>of twenty nineteen. In Pantone's catalog, it's thirteen zero to

0:00:26.400 --> 0:00:29.920
<v Speaker 1>two one. But there was a time when the pistachios

0:00:29.960 --> 0:00:33.919
<v Speaker 1>that Americans ate were almost all dyed red, seed and

0:00:34.040 --> 0:00:37.120
<v Speaker 1>shell so vibrant red that it would stain your fingers.

0:00:37.840 --> 0:00:40.920
<v Speaker 1>So why were pistachios dyed red in the first place,

0:00:41.040 --> 0:00:45.720
<v Speaker 1>and why aren't red pistachios around anymore. It all starts

0:00:45.720 --> 0:00:48.480
<v Speaker 1>with a Syrian pstachio importer by the name of Zalum,

0:00:48.520 --> 0:00:52.280
<v Speaker 1>who supposedly died his pistachios read to differentiate his product

0:00:52.360 --> 0:00:55.160
<v Speaker 1>from that of his competitors and to hide any minor

0:00:55.200 --> 0:00:59.280
<v Speaker 1>imperfections from harvesting. The pistachio is believed to be indigenous

0:00:59.280 --> 0:01:02.320
<v Speaker 1>to the Middle East, specifically Iran, and has been widely

0:01:02.360 --> 0:01:06.520
<v Speaker 1>cultivated from Afghanistan to the Mediterranean region and more recently

0:01:06.520 --> 0:01:09.399
<v Speaker 1>in California, where it was introduced in eighteen fifty four

0:01:09.480 --> 0:01:12.840
<v Speaker 1>as a garden tree. We spoke with Persian chef and

0:01:12.840 --> 0:01:18.320
<v Speaker 1>writer Nashbia Batmanglige. She explained, for Iranians and Turks, pistachios

0:01:18.319 --> 0:01:21.520
<v Speaker 1>play an important role in their culture in cuisine. For them,

0:01:21.560 --> 0:01:25.840
<v Speaker 1>pistachios are everyday snacks, roasted, salted and sometimes with lime juice.

0:01:26.120 --> 0:01:29.000
<v Speaker 1>There are pistachio cookies flavored with rose water and cardonmom

0:01:29.240 --> 0:01:32.560
<v Speaker 1>pistachios of lamb raised with rose water and saffron, statio

0:01:32.640 --> 0:01:36.680
<v Speaker 1>meatballs cooked in pomegranate juice, et cetera. Up until the

0:01:36.760 --> 0:01:40.400
<v Speaker 1>nineteen seventies, the majority of America's pistachios came from abroad,

0:01:40.720 --> 0:01:44.560
<v Speaker 1>most hailing from Iran. Zaloum's method of using his red

0:01:44.640 --> 0:01:47.600
<v Speaker 1>dye to make his nuts stand out eventually became the

0:01:47.720 --> 0:01:52.160
<v Speaker 1>identifying mark of Middle Eastern pistachios. Then, in nineteen seventy

0:01:52.200 --> 0:01:55.520
<v Speaker 1>nine came the Iranian hostage crisis, in which fifty two

0:01:55.520 --> 0:01:58.640
<v Speaker 1>American diplomats and citizens were held hostage in Iran for

0:01:58.640 --> 0:02:01.840
<v Speaker 1>four hundred and forty four days. Tensions between the two

0:02:01.920 --> 0:02:05.320
<v Speaker 1>nations were extremely high during this time, deeply affecting how

0:02:05.360 --> 0:02:09.400
<v Speaker 1>the United States viewed Iran and also undermining Jimmy Carter's

0:02:09.440 --> 0:02:13.720
<v Speaker 1>conduct of foreign policy. Carter did what any president in

0:02:13.720 --> 0:02:16.200
<v Speaker 1>a tight spot would do and imposed a number of

0:02:16.240 --> 0:02:20.080
<v Speaker 1>sanctions on Iran just after the crisis began. Carter began

0:02:20.120 --> 0:02:22.839
<v Speaker 1>by cutting off sales of Iranian oil and freeing all

0:02:22.880 --> 0:02:28.600
<v Speaker 1>Iranian assets. On April seven, frustrated by the ineffectual outcome

0:02:28.639 --> 0:02:31.640
<v Speaker 1>of the sanctions, Carter announced he would be taking drastic

0:02:31.680 --> 0:02:35.200
<v Speaker 1>measures by cutting off diplomatic ties with Iran and embargoing

0:02:35.280 --> 0:02:38.919
<v Speaker 1>all imports from the Middle Eastern country. His embargo against

0:02:38.919 --> 0:02:42.480
<v Speaker 1>Iranian imports resulted in what was essentially an embargo on

0:02:42.520 --> 0:02:46.680
<v Speaker 1>the area's vibrant red pistachios, leaving the fingers of pistachio

0:02:46.720 --> 0:02:52.760
<v Speaker 1>loving Americans everywhere their normal hue. So where do America's

0:02:52.800 --> 0:02:57.720
<v Speaker 1>pastachios come from? Now? California grows about of pustachio sold

0:02:57.760 --> 0:03:00.880
<v Speaker 1>in the US using an automated pro says that ensures

0:03:00.960 --> 0:03:05.760
<v Speaker 1>little to no colorful imperfections on the shell. California produced

0:03:05.760 --> 0:03:09.240
<v Speaker 1>around four point five million pounds of pistachios in seven,

0:03:09.680 --> 0:03:12.639
<v Speaker 1>a number that grew by twenty times only twenty years later.

0:03:13.480 --> 0:03:17.560
<v Speaker 1>Now California is home to of the nation's pistachio orchards,

0:03:17.840 --> 0:03:21.320
<v Speaker 1>making it at three point six billion dollar industry. Coming

0:03:21.360 --> 0:03:24.240
<v Speaker 1>in second and third are Arizona and New Mexico, with

0:03:24.280 --> 0:03:28.279
<v Speaker 1>an economic impact of thirteen million and three point one million, respectively.

0:03:29.520 --> 0:03:33.360
<v Speaker 1>These nuts are all their natural green, but relics of

0:03:33.400 --> 0:03:37.080
<v Speaker 1>red pistachios do still exist, for example, in a scene

0:03:37.080 --> 0:03:39.440
<v Speaker 1>in the film The Naked Gun in which the character's

0:03:39.440 --> 0:03:42.440
<v Speaker 1>mouths are dyed red by eating nuts, and in some

0:03:42.480 --> 0:03:51.000
<v Speaker 1>people's nostalgic memories. Today's episode was written by Jeremy Glass

0:03:51.000 --> 0:03:53.040
<v Speaker 1>and produced by Tyler Clang. For more on this and

0:03:53.080 --> 0:03:55.960
<v Speaker 1>lots of other colorful topics, visit how stuff works dot com.

0:03:56.040 --> 0:03:58.680
<v Speaker 1>Brain Stuff is production of iHeart Radio. For more podcasts

0:03:58.680 --> 0:04:01.559
<v Speaker 1>in My heart Radio, visit the ihart Radio app, Apple Podcasts,

0:04:01.600 --> 0:04:14.440
<v Speaker 1>or wherever you listen to your favorite shows. H