Eagle Ranch Pistachio's

 I know, I'm a bit behind in this post, but as I said before, dang if that life thing just didn't throw a monkey wrench in the works. Good news is, we beat life back and are on our way to living and loving it again. Ok, on to the post. We visited the Eagle Ranch Pistachio farm a couple of days after visiting the other one. I must say this one was a much better experience. The farm offers a tour as well as wine tastings and much nicer facility.

 During the tour, we learned, there is a male tree and a female tree. The male tree is larger and the branches point upward (typical male...lol) The female tree is smaller and the branches naturally point downward from the weight of the pistachios. The male tree are planted along the prevailing wind edge of the grove, so the wind can pollinate the female trees. We also learned the pistachio nuts are covered by a soft spongy membrane, this membrane allow the nuts shell to split open when its ripe and time to pick. So the nut splits on its own, and we all thought it split during the roasting process.....ahhhhh how Mother Nature has her way of fooling us.

 As with all modern plants the pistachios are first processed by machine.

 However, the final process is done by human eye, by these hard working ladies who have a keen eye for the bad ones that slip by. Below are some of my favorite pics from the day.

It was a good day, we did have to leave early as part of the tour included the final processing. In this processing room, the chili dust used to flavor the nuts was just unbearable for both of us to breath and affected us for a while after we left.
If all goes well, we should be headed out on the road again in just under 3 weeks......woooo hooooo!!! We ave a few places we want to see before we leave, so we'll be hitting those soon. Take Care and Keep Lovin Your Life as we do Ours......see ya next time.