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[-] in_my_honest_opinion@piefed.social 254 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

IF you're actually curious, it was because we used to import them, and the importers would dye them red due to discoloration in how they were harvested. Domestic production ramped up in the US and since pistachios didn't have to travel as far, and because modern harvesting was more mechanized. It was easier to wash, dry, roast and salt them in a shorter time period avoiding the discoloration that required the dye in the first place.

[-] A_Chilean_Cyborg@feddit.cl 44 points 20 hours ago

So is a US defaultism kinda thing huh

[-] Starski@lemmy.zip 10 points 7 hours ago

I hate this idea of "us defaultism" being labeled on anything that even remotely involves the US. This isnt us defaultism, this is someone from the US sharing something about the US worded to be for someone for the US. I see this numerous different times with different topics for different countries, but I don't go "oh this is German defaultism, oh this is Zimbabwean defaultism." It's a fun fact that you're taking too seriously because you have a hate boner for the US, which is honestly fair.

[-] flyby@lemmy.zip 4 points 7 hours ago

I world disagree because vast majority of the posts from different countries are labeled so (e.g. “In Germany, we had so and so”). Posts from US are almost never labeled so, hence the “defaultism”

[-] A_Chilean_Cyborg@feddit.cl 1 points 5 hours ago

That person assumed everyone would be from the US, wich is not true, hence defaultism.

[-] rainwall@piefed.social 15 points 20 hours ago* (last edited 20 hours ago)

Similiar reason cheddar is orange. Cheesemakers used to die it to cover inconsistences in quality or rot.

At this point, cheddar is almost perfectly homogenous, but people expect it to be orange, so its orange.

[-] axexrx@lemmy.world 1 points 5 hours ago

It was less about hiding rot, and more about making it appear to have a higher fat content.

[-] SweepTheLeg@lemmy.world 5 points 10 hours ago

At least they use natural ingredients to make it yellow and not red #5.

[-] EndlessNightmare@reddthat.com 6 points 18 hours ago

What is it's natural color? I know there is a white cheddar. Is that just undyed cheddar or is it a different variety?

[-] JillSteinsPuckeredAnus@lemmy.world 6 points 16 hours ago

Pale yellow. To make it orange cheddar they just add annatto for coloring.

[-] HeyThisIsntTheYMCA@lemmy.world 7 points 17 hours ago

So if in the 80s I lived in an area that didn't import them already, say, Fresno, the joke would go over my head? Because I sure as hell don't remember red pistachios

[-] Jyek@sh.itjust.works 2 points 6 hours ago

Holy shit you are pinning my exact experience. I grew up in Fresno CA and have never even seen a red pistachio in my life.

[-] HeyThisIsntTheYMCA@lemmy.world 1 points 4 hours ago

Well howdy neighbor! I grew up a few (not gonna say the amount) miles north of you. If you're in your mid 40s we might have competed against each other in sports/music/&c. growing up.

Beautiful area, great food, no?

[-] Jyek@sh.itjust.works 1 points 19 minutes ago

Excellent food and a good cultural mix of people. Melting pot of America for sure. Awful heat though. I left there years ago. Though I return to visit old friends.

[-] halcyoncmdr@piefed.social 15 points 23 hours ago

In the same vein... Maraschino cherries aren't red, they are golden.

[-] sploosh@lemmy.world 5 points 10 hours ago

Those are cherries that are not yet Marachino. Light-colored cherries are used because the darker ones don't bleach enough to look good with the dye they use. Maraschino cherries are whatever color they are dyed with (usually red).

[-] stupidcasey@lemmy.world 13 points 1 day ago

So instead of dying them back to green they chose to make them unholy abominations made with red dye that is known to give cancer? Cool.

[-] Darkenfolk@sh.itjust.works 8 points 18 hours ago

Yeah, they should've used green dye that gives us cancer, that way they at least have their natural colour.

[-] Armand1@lemmy.world 66 points 1 day ago

Wait, this is real? I thought this was a joke...

Like "Back in my day, bananas were bright purple, but that breed died out."

[-] skisnow@lemmy.ca 23 points 20 hours ago

I also thought this was a joke until I read the comments. Pistachios have always been pistachio coloured in the rest of the world.

There's something very American about drowning a perfectly healthy natural product in brightly coloured dye.

[-] Drusas@fedia.io 10 points 19 hours ago

Iran died them before export. Not Americans.

[-] skisnow@lemmy.ca 6 points 15 hours ago* (last edited 15 hours ago)

Presumably at their request, or at least their approval, since it doesn’t seem to be a thing in any other country. Most products in the US are imported, don’t pass the buck. “Iran forced it on us” goes against absolutely everything else we know about US consumers.

[-] Kacarott@aussie.zone 9 points 18 hours ago

Know your customer

[-] GladiusB@lemmy.world 6 points 15 hours ago

Nope. It's real. I was actually thinking about this the other day and just "wondered". Probably got busy with work and forgot to Google it and then this. I remembered them being red when I was a kid. Now I know why.

[-] ajikeshi@lemmy.world 4 points 20 hours ago

many different kinds of bananas and plantains

and even the "original banana-flavour"-banana is still around, the kind is called "grand michel" and can still be bought, but is no longer suitable for mass farming (due to some fungi/bacteria vulnerability)

[-] rudyharrelson@lemmy.radio 30 points 1 day ago

I also figured this was just a "let's screw with the youth"-type post. We used to eat pistachios all the time when I was a kid (I'm 35) and I don't think I've ever seen a red one before today. They were always beige/greenish.

[-] Mouselemming@sh.itjust.works 37 points 1 day ago

We over-60s remember when pistachios were red, airplane security was non-existent and everywhere smelled like cigarettes.

[-] Drusas@fedia.io 6 points 19 hours ago

I'm two decades younger and remember all that except red pistachios. And my family used to eat a lot of pistachios.

[-] myrrh@ttrpg.network 1 points 8 hours ago

...i can remember watching the apollo-soyuz flight and i remember old people eating red pistachios; i also remember loose tobacco shops in every shopping mall and used to show up at the airport five minutes before my flight and waltz onto the plane without issue...

[-] Drusas@fedia.io 1 points 1 hour ago

I remember all of that except red pistachios as well.

[-] Tar_alcaran@sh.itjust.works 17 points 1 day ago

Hey, I'm not even 40 and I remember getting to check out the cockpit of a plane multiple times. And the brown glass ashtrays at McDonalds.

[-] dharmacurious@slrpnk.net 17 points 1 day ago

I'm also 35, and I remember the red ones. But my mom ate a lot of pistachios and sunflower seeds when she quit smoking in the mid 90s

[-] DrSteveBrule@mander.xyz 14 points 1 day ago

Now smoking is much more financially responsible than eating pistachios

[-] Dasus@lemmy.world 2 points 11 hours ago

Where? In EU and Australia at least tobacco is taxed to high heaven and costs like 10+ western money units (take whichever, dollar or euro, still roughly applies) a pack/pouch

I pay 14.30€ for a 30g pouch of rolling tobacco. And it's probably more expensive the next time I buy because the pack before that was 13.50€. There's a few price-hikes every year.

[-] DrSteveBrule@mander.xyz 1 points 7 hours ago

I'm in the US but it varies state to state. Some states are dirt cheap while others are insanely high. Probably 8 to 10 dollars a pack on average around me

[-] Dasus@lemmy.world 2 points 7 hours ago

Oh well, it's still a bit cheaper than here, relatively.

But I remberer lots of people saying how they were gonna quit once packs hit 5€. And at the time it felt like something crazy that would never happen, and packs cost like 3 or at most 4€ then.

I mean yeah, I don't consume as much cigarettes nowadays, in fact none, but am still a smoker as I don't like smoking weed without tobacco, but I also don't like smoking tobacco without weed.

My opinion is just that vice taxes are shit, because while there might be an argument made, it disproportionately affects people of different income. What's a pack of ciggies tripling their price to someone with high and stable income? Nothing. What is it to the lowest classes? With minimum wage back in idk say 2005 you only needed to work like 15-20min to earn enough for ciggies, now it's definitely more than an hour. And that's not counting income taxation etc, just from gross pay.

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It's absolutely real; there's a joke about it in The Naked Gun.

It's not that there used to be a red variety of pistashio, they were sold coated in this oily red gunk that would stain your fingers pink. That stopped at some point in the late 90's early 2000s.

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[-] lugal@lemmy.dbzer0.com 80 points 1 day ago

I see, so that's why they have never been red outside the US

[-] Zexks@lemmy.world -1 points 9 hours ago
[-] lugal@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 6 hours ago

I'm blocked for some reason and can't access the page.

Might still be a (North) America thing. All I know is that I'm over 30 and I have never seen red pistaccios in Germany. I remember that as a kid, I didn't like them but my brothers did and I'm pretty sure, I would remember if they were red. Sorry for spreading all the hate.

[-] athatet@lemmy.zip 4 points 8 hours ago

I don’t think that someone not having seen a thing means that they hate it.

[-] Banana@sh.itjust.works 36 points 1 day ago

Ok that makes sense because I (a 30+ yo canadian) was so confused.

[-] Zexks@lemmy.world -1 points 9 hours ago

Youre not paying attention like most in here. Or are just looking for another reason to hate on "the others"

https://www.bulkbarn.ca/en/Products/All/Mediterranean-Red-Pistachios-Dry-Roasted-and-Salt

Red pistacios still available in canada right now

[-] Banana@sh.itjust.works 5 points 7 hours ago

What? Where was the indication of hate? I said I was confused. Last time I checked it's not a moral failing to be confused.

[-] athatet@lemmy.zip 4 points 8 hours ago

I don’t think that someone not having seen a thing means that they hate it.

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this post was submitted on 21 Feb 2026
503 points (96.1% liked)

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