Hi all,

Tom:
>Remarks: my own limited experiments with pistachios indicates that they
>are not sproutable (at least the U.S. grown nuts I tried were not
>sproutable). The nuts I tried to sprout turned mushy/slimy. The
>pistachio has a thick skin, which absorbs much water. If you can
>somehow obtain sun-dried pistachios, and you peel the nuts to remove
>the thick skin, they might sprout for you.

Since you never had success in sprouting pistachios I decided to try it.
I used Orkos' pistachios which are dried but are still in the shell.
The drying process causes most of them to open their shells, but not
all.
Since I didn't know if opened or closed ones would sprout I took
5 open pistachios and 7 closed ones, put them on a plate and added
water. I kept the plate at room temperature and did not cover it.
The pistachios were from the last harvest and thus over one year old!
I added water whenever it was necessary.

Result:
After two weeks one of the open pistachios had sprouted. The sprout was
very short - 5 millimeters - and grew very very slowly.
One open piece spoiled.
All others including the closed ones did not sprout but also didn't
spoil. I ate them all after 4 weeks to test for spoilage. They tasted
just like before the process but gave the impression of being fresher,
which was due to the water contents of course.

I hope this clarifies the issue. I think I missed the correct condi-
tions a lot because I expected much more sproutability. But at least
it is possible.

Best regards,

Stefan

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