So.. Would you like to hear about the worst pistachios we’ve tried so far? Not only should you avoid these, but if you see them somewhere in the world, feel free to destroy them so no one has the unfortunate experience we’ve had here at ilovepistachios.

Are we being overly harsh? Find out as we review these pistachios from the interesting country of Vietnam!

Presentation

Let’s start right off mentioning that these pistachios comes with a freshness packet! This is a first and it’s not a good sign at all. The 150g packet is a non-resealable clouded, heavy plastic bag and with some pistachio “powder” stuck on the sign.  The sign lists the ingredients: Pistachios and Salt. We’re guessing something else is in there… When opening the bag,  one can sense a faint sweet smell..

Visual Aspect

The color of the shells seem very pale, almost bleached or cleaned up and the green color of the pistachios does not look any green we can find in nature. Almost as if it the green color was painted on or added later. Strange dried, white goop on the pistachios is an even greater concern.

Taste

The weirdest taste ever. The taste was a strange sweet taste with a very faint pistachioi flavor. While trying these pistachios, we kept asking ourselves if this is actually fit for human consumption. We can describe the taste as a weird chemical and unhealthy taste. Something is definitely off and in a major way. The consistency was hard almost like eating a faintly artificial pistachio flavored sweet cookie instead of a real pistachio. Some pistachios were hard to get out of their shells because they were stuck to the shells.

Conclusions

What is wrong with these pistachios?  Are they intentionally sweet ?  Are they purposefully coated with some sort of glaze? Have they been stored in an inadequate environment? Why do they have a freshness packet? Maybe the folks at Nha Tanh have answers… meanwhile we give these pistachios 1/5 if the or 2/5 if the weird sweetness was intentional.

Are you in Vietnam? Have you had the unfortunate experience of trying these pistachios ? Let us know what you think in the comments !