The green pistachio of Bronte could rightly be the symbol of the city: its longevity and resistance, its strength to survive all adversities, even to bear fruit despite being situated on arid lava rocks, reflect many characteristics of Bronte’s people. A people who are not afraid of work and fatigue, who have always struggled to bring home the necessary.
Dominated and submissive for centuries by vassalage out of time and incredible historical adversities against which they have always fought tenaciously.
A people that on pistachios has built wealth, culture, and its own traditions but also the habit of respect and safeguard for the territory in which it lives.
Pistachio fruits, gathered in clusters, are made up of elongated drupes, slightly compressed, with the size of an olive, with a color which, during the setting phases is red and when it matures varies from green-reddish to white-pink and yellow-cream.
It has a thin shell, easily crumbling, an elongated endocarp and a single, aromatic, light green seed (producers define it as “ruby red outside, emerald green inside“).
Extremely pleasing is the taste of fresh fruit.
Bronte pistachio [green gold] has peculiar characteristics which distinguish it from pistachios cultivated in other Sicilian areas (Caltanissetta or Agrigento) or foreign countries (Middle East, Greece or California and Argentina).
Fruit of high value, it is very appreciated and requested in European and Japanese markets for its size and intense green coloration.
A valuable and rich fruit
Green pistachio of Bronte is a plant rich not only in substances of high nutritional value, but also in several active principles used in the medical field.
The antiradical activity of its substances is used in many pathologies such as cardiovascular diseases, arteriosclerosis, some types of dementia including Alzheimer’s disease and to improve the quality of life during aging and chronic diseases.
Rich in proteins and fats, pistachio seed, among dried fruits, ensures the highest caloric intake: for every 100 grams 683 calories, as opposed to 649 for walnuts, 603 for almonds, 598 for peanuts and 655 for hazelnuts.
It contains on average more than 20% of proteins, 50/60% of oil (with a very high content of oleic acids: 68% of oleic, 17/19% of linoleic, 12% of palmitic), then sugars, in particular glucose, vitamins (the precursor of vitamin E) and minerals.
It is particularly rich in iron (per 100 g, 7.3 mg: like half a kilo of beef), calcium, phosphorus, potassium and zinc, fundamental for male fertility. It also has a high quantity of magnesium which contributes to a good humor.
