Who in the Kingdom of Sheba forbade commoners to eat pistachios?
Legend has it that the Queen of Sheba decreed that pistachios were an exclusively royal food, even forbidding commoners to grow them for personal use.
The pistachio tree, native to Western Asia and Asia Minor (such as Greece, Syria, Turkey, Iran, Pakistan and Afghanistan), was cultivated by Egyptians, Greeks and Romans.
Worldwide, 1.1 million hectares (1.6%) are devoted to cultivation with a production of 1 million tons in dried pistachio. The main producers are: Iran, USA, Turkey, China, Syria and Greece, led by USA, with 165 thousand hectares and 0.5 million tons produced.
World consumption exceeds 843,000 tons, with projections of a 4% increase for the next period. The USA tops the list with 20%, followed by Turkey and China with 18% and 14.9%, respectively.
Spain is already an international power in pistachio production.
In a decade, pistachio cultivation in Spain has grown significantly, from 900 ha in 2009 to 66,466 ha today, with Castilla-La Mancha, the epicenter of this crop, with more than 80% of the total area cultivated in the country, followed by Andalusia, Castilla y León and Extremadura.
Pistachio production in Spain is estimated at 7,500 tons, although it represents only 0.8% of world production.
In less than 5 years, Spain will be the fourth largest pistachio producer in the world, reaching 20,000 tons per year, following the success of other crops such as olive groves, almond trees and vineyards.