Both the Smooth and the Crunchy varieties are made of 100% highest quality pistachio nuts – and nothing else. The nuts are lightly toasted and stone-milled to a fine paste. They differ in texture only. While the Smooth contains just the paste of grounded pistachio, the Crunchy is mixed with bits of broken nuts, adding highly palatable “crunchiness” to the taste. Each jar contains 170g.

Culinary Use

In general, Pistachio Butter can be used wherever and whenever one would otherwise use peanut butter. It does have, though, a very distinctive taste quite different from peanut butter (for more about the differences between the two from the nutritional point of view see below). It is fabulous on its own, spread on freshly toasted bread. As the product is made of 100% pistachios, without any additives whatsoever, you may wish to add a pinch of salt and/or some drops of honey, maple syrup or sugar to suit your taste.

Pistachio Butter can be used as an ingredient in salad dressing or as an original dip (prepared like Tahini). Both varieties can be used to enhance stir fries and oriental dishes such as Thai chicken curry and chicken satay. For desserts and sweet treats, Pistachio Butter has a respectable range of uses as a main ingredient in baking cookies, fudge, etc. It is amazingly tasty as a topping for ice cream too. The use is really only bound by your imagination! You can, of course, do some online researchtoo…

Health Benefits

Wikipedia counts the following health benefits of pistachio nuts: in research done at Pennsylvania State University, pistachios in particular significantly reduced levels of low-density lipoprotein (LDL cholesterol) while increasing antioxidant levels in the serum of volunteers. Human studies have shown that 32–63 grams per day of pistachio seeds can significantly elevate plasma levels of lutein, alpha-carotene, beta-carotene, and gamma-tocopherol.

Another online source claims the following benefits associated with eating pistachio nuts:

1. Curbing heart disease by lowering cholesterol
2. A rich source of fibre
3. Contains the powerful antioxidant lutein and zeaxanthin
4. Rich source of vitamins and minerals
5. May help in preventing type 2 diabetes

Nutrition Facts

Most of the calories (385 out of 571) are derived from the fat content. The good news is that the vast majority of that fat is of the GOOD variety! The chart below shows the proportion of good fats (green) in cashew in relation to bad fats (in red). Read more about each type of fat and fatty acid below.

The chart below shows good fats in Nuts, pistachio nuts, dry roasted, without salt added in relation to bad fats.

Polyunsaturated Fats: Polyunsaturated fat can be found mostly in nuts, seeds, fish, algae, leafy greens, and krill. Whole food sources are always best, as processing and heating may damage polyunsaturated fats.

Monounsaturated Fats: Foods containing monounsaturated fats reduce LDL (bad) cholesterol, while possibly increasing HDL (good) cholesterol. [“You Can Control Your Cholesterol: A Guide to Low-Cholesterol Living”. Merck & Co. Inc.].

Trans Fatty Acids: The National Academy of Sciences has concluded there is no safe level of trans fat consumption. This is because any incremental increase in trans fat intake increases the risk of coronary heart disease. [Dietary Reference Intakes for Energy, Carbohydrate, Fibre, Fat, Fatty Acids, Cholesterol, Protein, and Amino Acids (Macronutrients). National Academies Press. p. 504].

Saturated Fats: Consumption of saturated fat is a risk factor for cardiovascular disease in the view of the Canadian Heart and Stroke Foundation, the American Heart Association, the British Heart Foundation, the National Heart Foundation of Australia, the National Heart Foundation of New Zealand and the World Heart Federation.

Vitamins and Minerals

As noted above, Pistachio Butter contains high concentrations of vital vitamins and minerals. See details below, along with the percentage of the Recommended Daily Intake (RDI) of each, provided by 100g of Pistachio Butter:

Compared to Peanut Butter, Pistachio Butter contains significantly more Vitamin A, Vitamin B6, calcium, iron, phosphorus and potassium but has less zinc, sodium and Niacin. Pistachio Butter contains a lower percentage of Saturated (bad) fats than peanut butter (5% vs 8%).

Allergies

Nutural World Pistachio Butter is made in a peanut-free environment, and thus is completely safe for those with a peanut allergy. However, Nutural World produces other seed and nut based products, and while every effort is made to separate the production lines it cannot guarantee that the product is free of traces of other seeds and nuts.

Vegans and the Manufacturing Process

Nutural World Pistachio Butter is made of 100% pistachio nuts, and thus is suitable for vegetarians and vegans. The seeds are lightly roasted to enhance their taste and bring out their delicate aroma. The milling process uses traditional stone-based mills and not high speed rotating blades to generate the most uniform paste and keep the temperature during the milling process to the lowest possible. Since no emulsifier is added, it is quite normal for the oil in our products to separate to the top of the jar. Simply stir it back in. Once opened, storing the product in the refrigerator will slow down the separation process and will hold for three months.

Dieting, Weight Loss and Pistachio Butter

It may come as a surprise, but Pistachio Butter is actually very ‘diet friendly’ for some types of diets. The table below shows how suitable this food is for each of the main dieting options: