Pistachio paste

[gap]

It reminds me of tahini (consistency wise).

Thanks - that is a good description of the consistency I am achieving now.

[mparinda]

Hi,

I'm new to eGForums. I've been searching for a way to make pure pistachio paste. I am not even sure what I should use or if there's any tricks. I have grinded roasted pistachio and pistachio oil. Should I just mix them up?

Hi and welcome to the forum.

I've been making pistachio paste at home for a while now with great results. I take a batch of pistachios and lightly toast half (only lightly so they keep their green colour) and steam the other half. I then blend/blitz in a food processor. The trick here is to keep the mixture cool so that the oils don't seperate out of the nuts. This usually means doing short bursts in the food processor and then transferring the mixing bowl into a fridge/freezer to let it cool down before you keep going. The nuts will first turn to pistachio meal, then slowly combine into a dough-like texture and will then start to break down into a paste. Obviously the stronger your food processor the better. I usually do this process over a few hours - blitz for 1-3 minutes and when it starts to heat up, put it in the fridge and wait 15 mins or until cool. It's easy to do while watching TV or while you're doing other work in the kitchen.

The resulting paste has been used with success in entremets and chocolates (I used this recipe for pistachio ganache: http://www.chefeddy....hio-chocolates/). I have also used it in ice cream but you will get a little nut residue at the bottom of the unchurned mixture when you leave it to settle overnight. This can be strained out without affecting flavour and I have left it in without affecting mouthfeel as well.

Hi Gap,

Thank you so much for your reply. I'll try to follow your method.

[Tennessee Cowboy]

Anyone still following this post?  Pistachio paste is expensive.  I ordered a brand called "Love 'n Bake," which turned out to be over half olive oil and sugar.  Fiddleyfarms pistachio paste, bought through amazon, is 100% Pistachios.  

[Paul Bacino]

On 3/31/2004 at 10:31 AM, achevres said:

I have pistachio paste that I couldn't resist buying, but I'm not sure what to do with it. I got it to make ice cream, but the recipes I have don't start with paste. Any ideas or recipe sources on ice cream or other desserts with the paste?

There is a current Ice cream topic running in here.

 

Home-made Ice cream 2015-  Look at that!!

 

also here is the link of one of the participants 

 

http://icecreamscience.com/homemade-salted-caramel-ice-cream-recipe/

 

Let me find it!!

Edited May 15, 2016 by Paul Bacino (log)

[Tennessee Cowboy]

Thanks Paul  I'm watching the Home Made Ice Cream forum, lots of good stuff.  Ice Cream science is a great reminder.  I'm going there.

[Paul Bacino]

18 minutes ago, Tennessee Cowboy said:

Thanks Paul  I'm watching the Home Made Ice Cream forum, lots of good stuff.  Ice Cream science is a great reminder.  I'm going there.

 

 

This was the link I wanted to post!!

 

http://icecreamscience.com/roasted-pistachio-ice-cream-recipe/

[Lisa Shock]

You could make marzipan with paste. Some cakes are traditionally enrobed in marzipan: battenburg, English fruit cake, etc. and sometimes cake style petit fours have some on top to give crisp look to the fondant which is poured over.

 

Bonbon centers are always an option, truffles should be fairly easy.

 

You could also make cookies. This would be a great sandwich cookie with dark chocolate.

 

Think of it like you would peanut butter. Looking around at other nut butter uses make give you some ideas.

[Katie Meadow]

At the risk of repeating myself after posting in the Pistachio ice cream thread, I highly recommend the Sicilian Villa Reale paste. I ended up eating it out of the jar and I won't say how long that jar lasted, so I can't attest to how it bakes or what ice cream made with it is like. Would love recipes for shortbread or cake etc. using this stuff!

[Tennessee Cowboy]

I found villa reale sweet pistachio creme on the web but not pistachio paste.  Am I looking in the wrong place? 

[Franci]

On 3/31/2004 at 10:25 PM, alanamoana said:

guess this depends on where you are located and from whom you can buy products.

i overheard a conversation today at a pastry demo that g.a.f. seelig has a very good quality 100% sicilian pistachio paste that runs about $75/kilo.

 

If you are in NY, check also at Buonitalia in Chealsea mkt, maybe they have the bronte paste and their prices are generally good.

 

I have a pastry chef friend here in Brooklyn and he said to me it was much cheaper for them to ship pistachio paste from Italy.

I brought some back with me last summer (Bronte paste) from these guys, I'm 100% sure I got a paste from Bronte. Payed 10.22 euros taxed included for 250 g

It's maybe good thing to ask if they ship to the US.

 

Edit to add: and this month they also have a 30% discount on their products.

 

Edited May 16, 2016 by Franci (log)

[Franci]

The other guys that you can check, they have a wonderful selection is Pariani

[Tennessee Cowboy]

Unfortunately, I don't speak Italian and I don't know how to convert from euros to dollars

[JoNorvelleWalker]

Google has a currency converter that I've used when knife shopping from Japan.  Should work equally well for euros.

[Tennessee Cowboy]

On 5/15/2016 at 10:09 AM, Paul Bacino said:

 

 

This was the link I wanted to post!!

 

http://icecreamscience.com/roasted-pistachio-ice-cream-recipe/

I have tried this recipe.  It is the smoothest, best ice cream I've ever made, and the pistachio version has great mouth feel and taste.  I used Fiddleyfarms pistachio paste, btw, which is 100% pistachios

[Lisa Shock]

I notice that some paste includes the skins (probably the reason for dark colors) and some do not. I am interested in people's opinions of the flavors of each, better with or without?

[Jim D.]

It now appears that Agrimontana's excellent pistachio paste is unavailable (to ordinary mortals, at least) in the U.S. The only remaining place that states they carry it (and that I have found in a lengthy web search) is Pacific Gourmet, but from all I can tell, they serve only the San Francisco area. L'Epicérie no longer has it in stock and, from all I can judge from their customer service, will not have it. Same for a gourmet shop in Manhattan.

 

So I have begun looking at other high-quality brands and have come across MEC3 (which got a few very strong recommendations on the Cheftalk forum) and Sosa (I cannot find any reviews, but their products in general get high marks). Does anyone have information on these two brands and/or any other sources with which you are familiar?

[Kerry Beal]

MEC3 makes a fabulous strawberry compound. @Chocolot got us samples of their stuff the first Vegas workshop. Pretty sure someone got the pistachio and could comment.

[JeanneCake]

I have used the MEC 3 - it was labelled for gelato so it wasn't the pure paste I was really after.  But it worked in all the applications I needed it for: buttercream, ganache (not confectionery, for cake fillings), cheesecake and was better than other brands I tried.  I think I got it from Pastry Chef Central at the time.  I ran out and needed some quickly a few weeks ago for an order of pistachio eclairs so I bought the Sosa from AUI.   The Sosa was sweeter (to my taste) than the MEC3.  It has nice color and was ok for adding to the pastry cream; but I don't think I would buy it again for what I need it for.  I'm going to get more of the MEC3.

 

I wish more Agrimontana stuff was available here.  Their apricot bakeproof jam was the stuff of dreams. People still talk about the apricot linzer tarts I made with it, and I haven't been able to get my hands on Agrimontana apricot jam in at least 8 or 9 years

[Jim D.]

@JeanneCake,

Obviously Agrimontana is missing out on the U.S. market. I realize that the MEC product is sold as gelato flavoring, but I thought it was pure paste. What else does it contain? The MEC website says the sole ingredient is "Pistachio paste," but of course that could be deceptive depending on the meaning of "paste." I was always impressed with the Agrimontana product because it did not resort to coloring its product green--and some American sellers included a caution not to expect a green color.  If MEC is not just paste, then I am at a loss for locating the product.

[Jim D.]

Update: The Manhattan site that carried Agrimontana just a few weeks ago now has Thiercelin, a French brand, priced at $175 per kilo (on the Thiercelin site it's $87). It says it is 100% pistachios. Might have to add a "pistachio surcharge" to those chocolates.

[JeanneCake]

I don't have the tin any more so I can't tell what else was in there but they also sell a 100% pure pistachio paste so they definitely have two different pistachio products.  I would venture a guess it had some almonds in there as well as some sugar; it was wonderful even with that.  This is what's on the PastryChef.com site: http://www.pastrychef.com/MEC3-Gelato-Flavoring-Pastes_c_53.html

 

and this is what I was hoping for: sicilian pistachio paste

[Jim D.]

Thanks for clearing that up. On the Gourmet Food World site (to which you linked for the pure paste) I found the other MEC3 product (the one that Pastrychef sells), and it does contain almonds and sugar as well as pistachios. I suppose the price of the two products says it all:  2 kilos for $307 for the pure paste, 2 kilos for $141.50 for the mixed.

[Jim D.]

I reread another thread on pistachio paste (mostly having to do with ice cream) and found the Fiddyment Farm reference, with some good reviews on Amazon for their paste. So I ordered a small container of paste and some pistachios and will see how that is. The pricing is about $125 for the equivalent of 2 kilos (somewhat different from the MEC3 pricing). I'll report here on how the California paste stacks up against the Sicilian.

[JoNorvelleWalker]

Speaking of ice cream, I have tried a couple different brands of pistachio paste for modernist gelato and have been disappointed.  Of course they were not $150 per kilo either.  Best results so far have been with Jif peanut butter.

 

 

[Anna N]

7 hours ago, JoNorvelleWalker said:

Best results so far have been with Jif peanut butter.

 That must be some new kind of alchemy?