I found myself considerably hungry before I went to bed, and had a bowl of pistachios before I retired. This particular bag of pistachios came from an orchard in California. The packing is the typical plastic (polymer) bag, which I have already explained in detail. Pistachio nuts are grown from trees which take 7-10 years to reach substantial production. They are collected using harvesting equipment that shake the trees so that the nut falls into a collecting bin. The nuts are then shipped to a roasting facility where they are placed in industrial ovens most often powered by natural gas. This process from tree to consumer is quite energy intensive which is a contributing factor to their high price along with low yield per land unit.

A scenic view of a pistachio orchard in California.