asia Archives • I love pistachios

Pistachios – A secret childhood love affair – India

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My Ajji (Granny in Marathi) and I had had a scrumptious meal that afternoon – Rice, Dal, stir-fried vegetables in groundnut oil and some salad to go on the side. Our stomachs were full and our hearts, content. After cleaning up the kitchen, she said a few words to me which were like honey to my ears, “Sweetheart, I’m going to take a short nap. Be a good girl now, won’t you?”. “Of course, Ajji. Sleep tight! I said hoping she falls into a deep slumber so as to not hear me going about my monkey business

Finding pistachios in India – 15 A.D.

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This post is about India, but mostly about some pistachios in India.

India is fascinating, intense, and dripping with humanity and spirituality. A country filled with so many different cultures, ideas, beliefs, languages living together and somehow moving forward in a dance that would take a lifetime to fully grasp.

Also, naans.

Pistachios from Kathmandu, Nepal

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Hi pistachio fans, This is a quick review of some pistachios we received as a gift from a traveler through Nepal ! These pistachios are medium to large and the white color of the shell doesn’t look too reassuring as it remind us of some bad pistachios reviewed from Vietnam and Myanmar. As a disclaimer, these have been in a bag for many months and traveled quite a lot through many countries, so optimal freshness and humidity level is not guaranteed. Unshelled, these look pretty bad as some have some spider a webby white substance, a dry appearance and some have weird dark colors. We were expecting a mute crack when unshelling these as it often the case of some […]

Pistachio review: Sahong pistachios from Myanmar

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Myanmar was a very interesting place to visit. From beautiful golden temples such as the shwedagon in Yangon, to the ancient city of Bagan to trekking around Hsipaw, this country has a lot to offer especially in terms of culture and adventure. Today, we bring you a review of pistachios purchased from Yangon and snacked on during a train ride from Bucharest Romania, to Sofia Bulgaria. Presentation This bag of pistachios which we purchased from a small shop in the old town of Yangon is very flashy, colorful and inviting ! With its sparkly colors, happy pistachio cartoon character, and well sealed packaging, it makes us curious if the contents match. On the package, we can see some chinese text, some japanese text […]

Nut Walker Pistachios in Pai, Thailand

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Hi Everyone, Today we are reviewing Nut Walker dry roasted and salted pistachios from the cool town of Pai, a nice stop in backpacker trail in the mountainous northern Thailand. We previously reviewed a few other pistachios in thailand including Pai, how do these compare? Packaging A small bag with a pretty purple reflective color, nutritional facts, and a content description in thai, english, french, spanish, and arabic. It also has a halal certification and a kosher certification. It’s a product of thailand produced by Heritage Snacks & Foods Co which apparently also makes sunkist pistachios which we reviewed in a previous entry. The pistachios have about 4% sodium and the bag weighs 35g. Smell and visual aspect The […]

Review: Sunkist In-Shell pistachios in Thailand

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This is a quick review of Sunkist IN-SHELL Pistachios purchased in Thailand from a gas station in Huat Yai on the way to the beautiful island of Koh Lipe. These pistachios are apparently roasted and packaged in the Thailand but I suppose they are grown in California by Sunkist Growers Inc. What can we say about these pistachios ? The round can lets out a woody and earthy smell after pulling out the tab.. the size of the pistachios is medium with a number of big ones. The shells, a bit beat up and shiny seem to confirm the claim on the can that they are unbleached. Most pistachios are nicely open with some stray one. The taste is a […]

Reviewing Tong Garden Pistachios in Laos and Thailand !

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After the very sad experience of trying out pistachios in Vietnam, today we are reviewing two pistachios from the brand Trong Garden, found in both the countries of Laos & Thailand. The first pack of pistachios was found in a small store in the town of Viang Veng in Laos. We highly recommend spending sometime in Viang Veng, having a motorcycle ride around and witnessing the sheer beauty of the area. A lot has been said about Thailand but the ride from Pai to Chiang Mai was memorable, and relaxing on a beach in the island of Koh Lipe was quite nice especially if one is not into parties related to arbitrary moon cycles in other more populous islands. The second […]

The worst pistachios ever ? Reviewing Ntha Anh pistachios in Vietnam !

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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 of snacking on these. These are the worst.

Trying out 7-11 pistachios from Singapore !

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Convenience store pistachios are usually not really good. They are usually not really bad as well as tested in Tokyo for example, but they usually lack the flavor and subtle nuances of what makes a delicious pistachio. So when we were on our way to beautiful Indonesia, we decided to stop in Singapore for a few days to try out some 711 pistachios. Singapore is pretty cool, especially around India town, china town, and Arab st where you can find good food and interesting shops. A clean and organized modern melting pot with interesting surprises if you wander around a bit. Back to our pistachios. First of all let’s talk about the packaging, where these pistachios come from and how […]

Trying out pistachios in Japan

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We are back in the lively and intense city of tokyo, Japan where one can find so many different snacks and flavors ! Today, we skip the dried squid and give you a review of our first japanese pistachios from “TON’s brand” ! Packaging The bag is a nice vertical bag but non-resealable, the labeling in the front is simple and clean with mostly japanese text except for TON’S Brand in red in the top. The back has more information including calorie contents and various other information all in Japanese. The contents The pistachios themselves look ok and have a nice medium size. While the green is not too intense, they don’t stand out as been old or […]