Pistachio paste

[Kerry Beal]

Spoke to the gelato maker who is next to us at the NW chocolate festival. He had a MEC3 'badge' on his chef's coat. He said there are two MEC3 products one pure Sicilian pistachio - the other a mix. He said you could contact him at info@nuttysquirrelgelato.com. He loves to talk pistachio!

[Jim D.]

4 hours ago, Kerry Beal said:

Spoke to the gelato maker who is next to us at the NW chocolate festival. He had a MEC3 'badge' on his chef's coat. He said there are two MEC3 products one pure Sicilian pistachio - the other a mix. He said you could contact him at info@nuttysquirrelgelato.com. He loves to talk pistachio!

 

Yes, that is what JeanneCake pointed out. Thanks for the email contact. Tomorrow the paste I ordered from Fiddyment Farm arrives, and I will do a side-by-side taste test with the Agrimontana product.

[JeanneCake]

@Kerry Beal if you are still there can you ask him where he is getting the 100% pure Sicilian paste from please?

[Kerry Beal]

2 hours ago, JeanneCake said:

@Kerry Beal if you are still there can you ask him where he is getting the 100% pure Sicilian paste from please?

Sorry missed this til now - he was a talkative fellow - I'm sure if you contact him he'll be happy to tell you 

[Tri2Cook]

With the prices I've been able to find for pistachio paste here in Canada, I decided to go the route of just not doing anything with pistachio unless it's something I can do with just the pistachio nuts. At $166/kg for the pistachio/almond blend and $230/kg for the pure pistachio, I couldn't make it profitable in my market. And to be completely honest, most of my market would probably pass over the pistachio if peanut butter or hazelnut where available at the same time. 

[Jim D.]

Here is my comparison of the Agrimontana (Sicilian) and the Fiddyment Farm (California) pistachio pastes:  First, this is just my opinion (this should be obvious, but I will state it anyway). Second, I tried to taste them without concern for price, but it is difficult to do when the difference is so pronounced ($300+ vs. $127 for 2 kilos).

 

I did a blind taste test, plain and then with a piece of dark chocolate. I did not have a clear favorite for taste. In the Fiddyment, the oil does not separate out much at all, whereas in the Agrimontana, the separation is pronounced. This means that I might not have mixed up the latter well enough, but the Agrimontana is appreciably thicker. They are equal in smoothness--I detected no graininess in either one. The Agrimontana is darker in color (closer to brown than to green); I'm not sure if this means anything or not, perhaps just more roasting of the nuts? In answer to the crucial question as to which tastes more like pistachios, I would say the Fiddyment. The Agrimontana (the only ingredient listed is pistachios) has what might be called a "deeper" flavor, but the Fiddyment (which contains pistachios and pistachio oil) shouts out that it is ground-up pistachios.  The Fiddyment tastes slightly sweeter, but neither contains any added sweetener; perhaps California pistachios are sweeter by nature.

 

I have not tasted the MEC3 product, which is more readily available than the Agrimontana (see earlier in this thread); both are made from Sicilian pistachios. Of the two pastes I tasted, if I had to decide right now which to buy, it would be the Fiddyment Farm. I will need to take into account its less viscous texture, but this is easy to do.

[pastrygirl]

1 hour ago, Jim D. said:

The Agrimontana is darker in color (closer to brown than to green); I'm not sure if this means anything or not, perhaps just more roasting of the nuts? In answer to the crucial question as to which tastes more like pistachios, I would say the Fiddyment.

 

To me, pistachios are one of the few nuts that are better raw.  Hazelnuts MUST be roasted & most others are improved to some degree, but not pistachios.

 

I was thinking of this topic the other day and picked up some raw California pistachios from Trader Joe's for $12/lb.  I'll grind them down then spin them in the stone grinder for a while and see what I come up with.  Even a mere $29/lb is too rich for my blood!

[Jim D.]

You have a stone grinder? I'm impressed.

[pastrygirl]

On 11/14/2017 at 8:07 PM, Jim D. said:

You have a stone grinder?

 

Yeah, just a little one like this: Premier 2.0l Tilting Wet Grinder

 

I made hazelnut paste today with hazelnuts and powdered sugar, should do raspberries tomorrow - freeze dried berries, sugar, & cocoa butter.  I process the nuts in my cuisinart first until they go runny, then put them in the grinder to work out the hard  bits and mix in the sugar.

 

I'll trade you pistachio paste for Aw readings

[Jim D.]

6 hours ago, pastrygirl said:

I'll trade you pistachio paste for Aw readings

 

I would be glad to do readings, but the problem would be that by the time your sample gets to me, the reading would no longer be accurate.

 

When you mentioned not roasting pistachios, it occurred to me that I don't know whether the two brands I sampled yesterday were roasted or not--I just assumed they were. I always roast them, but only for a very short time as they burn very easily. I think it brings out their flavor.

[teonzo]

Agreed 200% with Pastrygirl.

Best thing is to make your own paste starting from raw pistachios. If you find good pistachios then it's better not to roast them. I would suggest to look in ethnic markets for Iranian and Syrian pistachios, in my opinion the best Iranian pistachios are better than the top crop of Bronte. Beware that a good amount of what is labelled as "Sicilian" pistachio is not Sicilian, it's imported and re-labeled. There is a huge fraud going on there.

If you make your own paste then you get it fresh, this means better taste due to less oxidization/rancidity and so on. Usually producers say that a brown pistachio paste is a good sign, since it's "natural" (no additives, no colorings). In my experience when you start with green pistachios (the good ones) then you get green paste. Brown paste means they started from not green pistachios (not the best). People choose with their eyes, green pistachio is much more appealing than brown.

The paste prices you wrote are simply insane, your food cost would skyrocket over the final cost. With the price of 5 kg of paste you buy the wet grinder plus 5 kg of raw pistachios, after that you are freerolling. Saying your customers that you house-make everything starting from whole nuts is a selling point.

 

 

 

Teo

 

[weinoo]

This might not be exactly what you're looking for, but Gustiamo has some nice products, and I've never been disappointed...

 

Pistacchio della Sicilia

[JoNorvelleWalker]

3 hours ago, weinoo said:

This might not be exactly what you're looking for, but Gustiamo has some nice products, and I've never been disappointed...

 

Pistacchio della Sicilia

 

Olive oil?

 

[Kerry Beal]

On 11/14/2017 at 10:14 PM, pastrygirl said:

 

Yeah, just a little one like this: Premier 2.0l Tilting Wet Grinder

 

I made hazelnut paste today with hazelnuts and powdered sugar, should do raspberries tomorrow - freeze dried berries, sugar, & cocoa butter.  I process the nuts in my cuisinart first until they go runny, then put them in the grinder to work out the hard  bits and mix in the sugar.

 

I'll trade you pistachio paste for Aw readings

Jim - at the NW chocolate festival - we had a Premier grinder at one of the EZtemper tables - @Alleguede made hazelnut and almond praliné with toasted hazelnuts, roasted almond, caramelized sugar and a bit of salt. Not only was the grinder running a draw to our table - but the smell of the praliné as well! We did discover that letting it run overnight tended to dim the hazelnut flavor - but by god that stuff was smooth the next day.

 

We made some gianduja with it using the nib to bar chocolate that we made in the Cocoatown grinder that we had on our other table. We molded it up in the little flower mold I usually travel with - cut them in four. I turned my back for a few seconds and the crowds decended like a plague of locust and they were all gone. Thank heaven we had set aside a couple of pieces to impress the folks who provided us with the grinders

 

Oh yeah - are you coming to the Workshop this year? @Alleguede and I plan to run two masters classes - one on the pastes and praliné. We hope to have the Premier people there and run a number of their units - which will then be available for people to buy and take home. So if you are coming - bring a big suitcase. 

[JoNorvelleWalker]

11 hours ago, Kerry Beal said:

Jim - at the NW chocolate festival - we had a Premier grinder at one of the EZtemper tables - @Alleguede made hazelnut and almond praliné with toasted hazelnuts, roasted almond, caramelized sugar and a bit of salt. Not only was the grinder running a draw to our table - but the smell of the praliné as well! We did discover that letting it run overnight tended to dim the hazelnut flavor - but by god that stuff was smooth the next day.

 

We made some gianduja with it using the nib to bar chocolate that we made in the Cocoatown grinder that we had on our other table. We molded it up in the little flower mold I usually travel with - cut them in four. I turned my back for a few seconds and the crowds decended like a plague of locust and they were all gone. Thank heaven we had set aside a couple of pieces to impress the folks who provided us with the grinders

 

Oh yeah - are you coming to the Workshop this year? @Alleguede and I plan to run two masters classes - one on the pastes and praliné. We hope to have the Premier people there and run a number of their units - which will then be available for people to buy and take home. So if you are coming - bring a big suitcase. 

 

 

Is this a stone grinder?  Will it grind grains as well as nuts?  If so will it produce a fine flour?

 

[Kerry Beal]

6 hours ago, JoNorvelleWalker said:

 

Is this a stone grinder?  Will it grind grains as well as nuts?  If so will it produce a fine flour?

 

I'll find out

[Kerry Beal]

9 hours ago, Kerry Beal said:

I'll find out

Nope - it won't - you need a millstone grinder apparently.

[JoNorvelleWalker]

1 hour ago, Kerry Beal said:

Nope - it won't - you need a millstone grinder apparently.

 

Thanks for checking, Kerry.  My Waring WSG60 makes nut paste adequate for my purposes, though I've yet to try pistachio.  Currently I find myself re-researching flour mills.  For some reason.

 

[Kerry Beal]

6 minutes ago, JoNorvelleWalker said:

 

Thanks for checking, Kerry.  My Waring WSG60 makes nut paste adequate for my purposes, though I've yet to try pistachio.  Currently I find myself re-researching flour mills.  For some reason.

 

Yeah - I know how that works - next thing you'll have one!

[pastrygirl]

On 11/15/2017 at 4:19 AM, Jim D. said:

I would be glad to do readings, but the problem would be that by the time your sample gets to me, the reading would no longer be accurate.

 

Does the ganache have to be liquid?  Obviously I'm confident enough to sell them, but I wish I had numbers to back me up.

 

 

[Jim D.]

30 minutes ago, pastrygirl said:

 

Does the ganache have to be liquid?  Obviously I'm confident enough to sell them, but I wish I had numbers to back me up.

 

No, the sample can be solid. The issue is that it has to be spread into a little plastic cup (1.5" in diameter, a little less than .5" in height), so liquid is definitely easier. But food inspectors carry these devices around to test the shelf life of things like baked goods, which have to be chopped or ground up for the test. I am getting ready to experiment with incorporating shortbread into a bonbon and plan to chop up the shortbread to fit in the cup to test it. I own no stock in the company that makes the Pawkit, but checking the Aw does provide a large amount of comfort with a ganache recipe I have invented myself--or a lot of concern when the reading goes up to higher levels. At that point it's time to reformulate! I can say that when I submitted my application for approval to sell chocolates, the state authority appeared to be impressed that I included Aw readings with the recipes I was required to provide.

[pastrygirl]

I made pistachio paste today. I didn’t really toast the nuts but warmed them in hopes of releasing the oils. Not sure that was effective though, they still took much longer to liquefy than hazelnuts do. Adding extra pistachio oil to loosen things up would probably help.

 

Heres my hazelnut paste from a few days ago, pretty liquid 

 

and heres today’s pistachio - much thicker!

 

i saved some out just plain and added a little sugar and a pinch of salt to some. 

 

@Jim D. if you pm me a mailing address I’ll send you a bit so you can see how homemade compares to commercial and decide if you want to make your own. 

[weinoo]

Here's an interesting chart; perhaps one of the reasons that the pistachio stuff I linked to above contains olive oil (probably a fairly neutral one, at that).

 

Composition of Major Commercial Nuts

 

 

[JoNorvelleWalker]

If needing to add oil to pistachio paste, why not pistachio oil?

 

[Katie Meadow]

What exactly is the difference between pistachio paste and pistachio butter? I was gifted with some Sicilian stuff a while back (can't remember if it was paste or butter) and I'm pretty sure it had sugar in it. I didn't even bother to put it on toast;  spoon to mouth, it lasted a couple of days. I want to try some other brands, some perhaps with no sugar, so with moderate amounts of sugar.

 

For baking purposes or ice cream I assume you want one with no sugar? The Fiddyment Farms seems highly recommended and it is available through Amazon Prime, which works for me. Both the butter and the paste have no sugar. What might be the best uses for either?