Pistachios still key to Lebanese cuisine despite the regression in cultivation

In its edition of August 22, L’Orient Le Jour published a special feature on pistachios, a basic ingredient of many traditional dishes in Lebanon, particularly desserts and sweets. The cultivation of pistachios, the newspaper wrote, kept on dwindling since the eruption of the civil warm with imports growing from Iran, Syria and Turkey.  Indeed, pistachios have become a delicacy smartly blended into an assortment of local cookeries. To know more, the newspaper spoke to a number of sweets business owners who boasted the special fusion effect of the pistachio added product. Ranim Hallab, the marketing manager at Qasr al Helu-Hallab, mentioned that they use nearly 60 tons of pistachios every year for the making of maamoul, baklava and ice cream, as well as for decorative purposes. Similarly, Mussa Rifai, general manager of Rifai Roastery, told L’Orient Le Jour reporter that salted pistachios top their sales. Lebanon, the newspaper went on to say, has imported around 3.122 tons of the product in 2015 at USD 20 million, mainly from Iran (86%), Syria (4%) and Turkey (3%); the Iranian pistachios being among the best, according to Castania Roastery manager. The share of pistachios coming from the US, a major world producer of the crop, remains meagre, as Lebanese consumers do not favor it much. And while 30% to 40% of the pistachios is used in the making of desserts, the rest is being sold as a roasted, salted or flavored product. Meanwhile, though it is hard to estimate the total size of Lebanon’s export of pistachios, L’Orient Le Jour, citing customs figures, said exports of pistachios did not exceed 108 tons (worth of USD 323 thousand) and were destined to Jordan. (L’Orient Le Jour, August 22, 2016)