Wait, this is real? I thought this was a joke…
Like “Back in my day, bananas were bright purple, but that breed died out.”
Comment on I don't know the reason why.
in_my_honest_opinion@piefed.social 2 weeks 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.
Armand1@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
rudyharrelson@lemmy.radio 2 weeks 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 2 weeks ago
We over-60s remember when pistachios were red, airplane security was non-existent and everywhere smelled like cigarettes.
Tar_alcaran@sh.itjust.works 2 weeks 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 2 weeks 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 2 weeks ago
Now smoking is much more financially responsible than eating pistachios
Dozzi92@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
Yeah, I’m 38 and remember red pistachios. Also remember finding some sort of worm thing burrowed into one of those red pistachios, while I was sitting at my grandfather’s kitchen table eating pistachios. Didn’t stop me. Well, it stopped me from eating that one. But I’m always leery if a pistachio has a hole in it.
skisnow@lemmy.ca 2 weeks 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.
captain_aggravated@sh.itjust.works 2 weeks 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.
hissingmeerkat@sh.itjust.works 2 weeks 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.
Jesus_666@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
Because most banana varieties aren’t very transport stable.
chaogomu@lemmy.world 2 weeks 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.
GladiusB@lemmy.world 2 weeks 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 2 weeks 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)
Pirat@lemmy.org 2 weeks ago
There are still some dark purple bananas out there. They are usually less than 1/2 the size of a normal (cavendish?) banana. They don’t taste as good to me but many people love them.
A_Chilean_Cyborg@feddit.cl 2 weeks ago
So is a US defaultism kinda thing huh
Starski@lemmy.zip 2 weeks 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 2 weeks 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”
Redacted@lemmy.zip 2 weeks ago
Okay but the guy at the start of this comment chain literally did label it
A_Chilean_Cyborg@feddit.cl 2 weeks ago
That person assumed everyone would be from the US, wich is not true, hence defaultism.
rainwall@piefed.social 2 weeks 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.
EndlessNightmare@reddthat.com 2 weeks 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 2 weeks ago
Pale yellow. To make it orange cheddar they just add annatto for coloring.
SweepTheLeg@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
At least they use natural ingredients to make it yellow and not red #5.
axexrx@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
It was less about hiding rot, and more about making it appear to have a higher fat content.
halcyoncmdr@piefed.social 2 weeks ago
sploosh@lemmy.world 2 weeks 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 2 weeks 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 2 weeks ago
Yeah, they should’ve used green dye that gives us cancer, that way they at least have their natural colour.
HeyThisIsntTheYMCA@lemmy.world 2 weeks 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 weeks 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 2 weeks 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 2 weeks 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.
lugal@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 weeks ago
I see, so that’s why they have never been red outside the US
Banana@sh.itjust.works 2 weeks ago
Ok that makes sense because I (a 30+ yo canadian) was so confused.
idiomaddict@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
It’s also about ten years out of date, 25 year olds today probably wouldn’t recognize this
SweepTheLeg@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
I’m 47 and have never seen this. I only remember pistachios in ice cream but they werent fucking red.
Zexks@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
Youre not paying attention like most in here. Or are just looking for another reason to hate on “the others”
bulkbarn.ca/…/Mediterranean-Red-Pistachios-Dry-Ro…
Red pistacios still available in canada right now
Banana@sh.itjust.works 2 weeks 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 2 weeks ago
I don’t think that someone not having seen a thing means that they hate it.
Zexks@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
Yes it has and currently is
bulkbarn.ca/…/Mediterranean-Red-Pistachios-Dry-Ro…
Youre all just looking to hate on someone
athatet@lemmy.zip 2 weeks ago
I don’t think that someone not having seen a thing means that they hate it.
Zexks@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
Its not the pistacios they were hating on
lugal@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 weeks 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.