Originally, pistachios were imported into the US from the middle east. The
traditional harvesting methods left unsightly blemishes on the nuts that
seemed to turn off US consumers. US importers found that if the masked the
pistachio blemishes using red vegetable dye, they sold more to US consumers
(who, at the time, seemed ready to accept that the nuts might naturally be
that color).

Since the 1970s the US has developed domestic pistachio crops and no longer
needs to import the ratty looking middle eastern nuts. Nice looking
pistachios combined with cost conciousness on the producer side and health
consciousness on the consumer side has made the blonde pistachio variety
quite a bit more popular than the red kind. Today, "red" probably indicates
"low-grade".

Not that the dye is actually harmful anyway. Like many dyes, it probably has
some beneficial low level of antibacterial or antifungal activity. However,
just as many people were once willing to accept that red was a natural
color for this nut, they're just as willing to accept the equally
well-founded belief that the "unnaturalness" of the dye poses a health
risk.

Dye-free is probably a superior if only because it requires less resources
to produce.


Bob Simon wrote:

> My wife asked me if I could find out why so I did a quick google
> search but didn't find anything relevant.
>
> She came up with a couple of ideas:
> It's a plot hatched by the red dye #2 lobby.
> It makes them "pretty" for XMas.
>
> Does anyone know?
>
> --
> Bob Simon
> The Truth may be out there but it can be hard to find.
>
> --
> Bob Simon
> remove x from domain for private replies

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