US defaultism
I don't know the reason why.
Submitted 1 day ago by BonesOfTheMoon@lemmy.world to [deleted]
https://lemmy.world/pictrs/image/71b3bd88-d19a-42db-a1a2-42460a2d09b2.jpeg
Comments
thethunderwolf@lemmy.dbzer0.com 43 minutes ago
HerbalGamer@sh.itjust.works 1 hour ago
I’m 34 and have never heard of these.
in_my_honest_opinion@piefed.social 1 day ago
IF you’re actually curios, 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 11 hours ago
So is a US defaultism kinda thing huh
lugal@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 day ago
I see, so that’s why they have never been red outside the US
Zexks@lemmy.world 1 hour ago
Yes it has and currently is
bulkbarn.ca/…/Mediterranean-Red-Pistachios-Dry-Ro…
Youre all just looking to hate on someone
Banana@sh.itjust.works 1 day ago
Ok that makes sense because I (a 30+ yo canadian) was so confused.
Armand1@lemmy.world 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 11 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.
GladiusB@lemmy.world 7 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.
rudyharrelson@lemmy.radio 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.
captain_aggravated@sh.itjust.works 1 day ago
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.
ajikeshi@lemmy.world 11 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)
hissingmeerkat@sh.itjust.works 22 hours ago
There are bananas that are dark red to dark purple, those varieties barely get imported to the US. For some reason the import market is 1-variety-of-bananas-at-a-time-until-it-goes-extinct.
chaogomu@lemmy.world 23 hours ago
The real answer is that yes, they were red, but no it wasn’t because they were poor quality.
It’s because the world’s largest exporter was Iran, and Iran had a blanket policy of dying their pistachios red.
rainwall@piefed.social 12 hours ago
Similiar reason cheddar is orange. Cheesemakere used to die it to cover inconsistences in quality or rot.
At this point, cheddar is almost perfectly safe, but people expect it to be orange, so its orange.
SweepTheLeg@lemmy.world 2 hours ago
At least they use natural ingredients to make it yellow and not red #5.
EndlessNightmare@reddthat.com 10 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?
halcyoncmdr@piefed.social 14 hours ago
sploosh@lemmy.world 2 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).
HeyThisIsntTheYMCA@lemmy.world 9 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
stupidcasey@lemmy.world 17 hours 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 10 hours ago
Yeah, they should’ve used green dye that gives us cancer, that way they at least have their natural colour.
digger@lemmy.ca 1 day ago
Takes me back. The Naked Gun | Red pistachios scene
DrSteveBrule@mander.xyz 22 hours ago
I know it’s common for actors to not really eat when filming a scene in which the character is eating but it almost adds to the joke that we never really see them eating the pistachios. They’re just fidgeting with the bags and chewing on nothing.
bjoern_tantau@swg-empire.de 22 hours ago
Warwick Davis (best known for his roles as Wicket the Ewok or Willow) told this story from when he was an extra at the pod race in Star Wars Episode 1.
He had an awesome looking cocktail and he made the fatal mistake of taking three large sips in the first take. And of course he had to repeat that action every take. And they had to do many takes. Trouble was (apart from the enormous amount of liquid) that the cocktail tasted absolutely awful. But as a professional he stuck to his role of course.
Those takes never made it into the movie. They aren’t even available as cut scenes or still photos.
br0da@lemmy.world 1 day ago
Care to tke dinghy, Frank? No, I took care of that at the press conference.
SwingingTheLamp@piefed.zip 1 day ago
Was this a regional thing? In my memory, they were all dyed green.
chaogomu@lemmy.world 23 hours ago
Pistachios are native to Iran, and until the 1970s Iran was the world’s largest exporter. They dyed their exports with a food safe red.
hypeerror@sh.itjust.works 23 hours ago
They were died because they were hand picked and oils from the pickers hand would cause discoloration. The red dye covered that up.
Machine harvested pistachios didn’t have that problem.
agingelderly@lemmy.world 1 day ago
We used to get the red ones around Christmas. I just thought they were decorative for the holidays, like Hersey’s kisses changed to Christmas color wrapping
mika_mika@lemmy.world 1 day ago
They tasted better this way. I wish they could bring this pistachio back from extinction.
DarrinBrunner@lemmy.world 1 day ago
The Red Pistachio mold plague spread with surprising speed. Horticulturalists were caught flatfooted, but pulled a rabbit out of their hat with the current strain of green pistachios, saving the sector. It was quite a wild ride.
I guess you had to be there.
drcobaltjedi@programming.dev 23 hours ago
They still exist. They’re just from Iran.
Mouselemming@sh.itjust.works 23 hours ago
You could always add red food coloring if you have some old bottles from before they took out the toxic
otter@lemmy.ca 1 day ago
Fun fact, the ketchup chips in Canada were inspired by these
Banana@sh.itjust.works 1 day ago
Where did you get that from?
otter@lemmy.ca 18 hours ago
I should have included the tag, I made it up 😄
sheridan@lemmy.world 1 day ago
Was pistachio ice cream also red?
captain_aggravated@sh.itjust.works 1 day ago
No, pistachio flavored ice cream and puddings and such have always been green.
Mouselemming@sh.itjust.works 23 hours ago
Good question, no and it confused me as a child in the 60s
MrScottyTay@sh.itjust.works 58 minutes ago
I’m 31 and I’ve never in my life seen red pistachios in the UK and I’ve been eating them all my life. What kind of fuck-ass pistachios did you Americans get wtf?