Tips To Recognize High Quality Pistachio

Tips To Recognize

High Quality Pistachio

When importing a product, you have all the rights to expect standard qualities suited for your demand. While there are some companies trying to lower their costs by reducing the quality of their product, it is helpful to gain the knowledge to recognize the quality of the product you are purchasing.

Product Varieties

According to our product catalogue, pistachios are produced in the following varieties:

1. In-shell raw pistachios – naturally opened
2. In-shell raw pistachios – mechanically opened
3. Pistachio kernel

* As you see in the picture the more open the shells of a pistachio are, the more its kernel to in-shell product ratio goes. So naturally opened pistachios have a higher kernel to in-shell ratio.

1 In-shell raw pistachios-naturally open

There are 4 types of in-shell pistachios which you can find them in our catalogue.

Number of Pistachio Per Ounce

An important factor that you should know while buying in-shell pistachios is the number of pistachio per ounce. For example, a 30-32 number of pistachio per ounce rate means that there should be 30 to 32 nuts of pistachios in each ounce of in-shell product.

Damaged Product Rate

Also some of the product may be damaged in the sorting, packing and shipment process. So the percentage of empty shells and broken kernels is also an important rate to be aware of.

Kernel to In-Shell Product Ratio

Naturally open pistachios have a kernel to in-shell product ratio higher than 51%. This means in every 100 grams of in-shell product there should be 51 grams or more pistachio kernels and 49 grams or less shells. If this percentage is lower than 51 %, it means that the product has been mixed with mechanically-opened or closed-shell pistachios in order to lower its price.

The closed-shell pistachio %

is another rate you should be aware of. Please check our specifications for more details.

100%

÷in-shell product

2 In-shell Raw Pistachios -Mechanically Opened

In addition to the rates mentioned above, damage rate is also an important factor when buying mechanically opened pistachios.

Bear in mind that every percent of yield can cost around

150$/MT

so the damage and yield percentage should be considered as a very important factor while buying pistachios.

Based on Ratinkhosh specifications the yield rate in this product should be 45 to 49 %.
This means if you buy a product with a 49% yield rate there should be 49 grams or more pistachio kernels in every 100 grams of it.

100%

÷in-shell product

3 Pistachio Kernels

Recognizing the perfect quality for pistachio kernels is very critical. The kernels should be completely clean from foreign materials such as glass, metal and etc. There might be some broken shells in the product but it should not exceed a certain range. Also the rate of broken and split kernels is an important factor to look for. Please refer to Ratinkhosh specifications for additional details.

Basically fine pistachios are recognized with the following factors:

We discussed kernel to in-shell product ratio and some related items in this article because they are the trickiest of all, knowing it may differ from one company to other.

You can read all about factors of fine pistachio products in the following link to our website: