Find out what pistachios from at least 15% Australian ingredients taste like!
Hi Pistachio fans,
Here at ilovepistachio we reviewed pistachios form many different continents. We brought you reviews of delicious pistachios from places like Oman and Bosnia Herzegovina, and other not so delicious ones from places such as Vietnam and Myanmar.
However one continent which we didn’t review pistachios from, is the Australian continent.. so today we bring you a review from the country of … Australia !
Context
Australia, is quite a unique place especially when it comes to beautiful natural landscapes, clean and sometimes uncrowded beaches and diverse wildlife (watch out for those drop bears!). The culinary landscape however, at least in the west coast is not necessarily the most subtle or diverse, although we have come across some delicious meat pies occasionally and good Mexican food is starting to make itself seen more and more in these parts.
WA and Perth have what can be considered a Mediterranean climate with hot dry summers and mild winters which is a bit similar to some parts of California which are known for having some good pistachios.. so does WA produce any good pistachios?
Finding the pistachios
In a supermarket west of Perth called Farmers Jack’s that seems to be specialise in WA produce, we found a section of nuts that had a reasonable selection of nuts but we skipped straight to our favourite, the pistachio.
Farmer Jack’s Pistachios 
Farmer Jack’s Pistachios
These particular pistachios were advertised as having at least 15% Australian ingredients which frankly is not super inspiring are are about $40 per kg. They seemed to be quite popular though because this pistachio section only had a small amount left. Does this mean that these pistachios were in high demand because of their deliciousness?
After grabbing a huge scoop promptly slid down a plastic(bad) bag, we hurried home to try them out and tell you, our pistachio fans, if these are worth snacking on.
Farmer Jack’s Pistachios 
scoop of pistachios
Smell
These didn’t have much of a smell and we did try to inhale really hard from the plastic bag.. maybe a slight peppery smell but not strong at all.
Size
Smallish to medium size.
Visual aspect
The shells were various shades of yellow and beige, smooth but not unnaturally smooth with not much green peaking through. The advantage of having a scooper when getting pistachios in bulk is the ability to scoop up some naked pistachios. Naked pistachios usually give a good indication of the environment they were kept in including saltiness and or any additives or cross-nut contamination. These looked fine. Most if not all of the shells were slightly and nicely open.
Taste
The first unshelled pistachio was tasty. No doubt about that. It was a good sign for things to come… but the second one wasn’t as good. Here at ilovepistachio we don’t judge pistachios by the first or second pistachio so we kept snacking in order to get an average or an overall taste from a larger number.. also we were a bit hungry… After cracking a few more, we realised that the second pistachio was a fluke as the rest were quite good with a solid crunch, reasonable consistent taste, and a pronounced saltiness.
Verdict
These pistachios from Farmer Jack’s in Western Australia were “pretty good”. A good crunch and a pretty good taste but not amazing flavour. We believe these could go quite well with some honey in a backlava for example. The consistency of good pistachios was at 99% so good points for quality.
Overall, we give these pistachios the respectable score of 4/5 for their good quality and consistency. We just wish they had a bit more flavour and crunch.
Are you in Australia ? Have you tried some delicious pistachios? Let us know in the comments!
