MO or NO Pistachios, why and how
Normally we hear a lot about the lower prices from some suppliers and here we will explain how it happens. The answer is Mechanical open pistachio mixed with natural open pistachios! but yet if you still don’t know what we are talking about don’t worry I will explain it.
Fully ripen and high-quality pistachio kernels become big enough to crack the shells naturally and become Naturally open (NO) pistachio which is considered as high-quality pistachio but that’s not the end of the story, every year a huge amount of closed mouth pistachios comes from farms which processors open them Mechanically to use their kernel or even mix it with normal pistachio which we call them Mechanical open pistachio is simply MO.
Now let’s see the difference between NO and MO:
Natural open pistachio kernel to shell ratio is normally above %53 it means if you crack and open 100gr of pistachio there should be more than 53gr of kernels. But when it comes to mechanical open pistachio this ratio will be decreased to less than %50 this means the mechanical open has less kernel in it which is what customers pay for it and not the shells. Not all closed mouth pistachios are being mechanically open to mixing with Natural open pistachio but also they will be used in the kernel industry as ingredients.
Now some suppliers mix mechanical open pistachio with natural open pistachio to reduce the price of it and for sure the suppliers do this according to the buyer’s request to reduce the price.
Now let me give you a hint to recognize Mechanical open pistachio from Natural open pistachio.
simply put pistachio between your fingers and try to push the shells to reach each other, natural open pistachio won’t get closed completely because of the kernel size but mechanical open pistachios will get close together easily. The other method is the taste of the kernel which highly depends on your experience with pistachios. Besides MO pistachio doesn’t look as good as Natural open pistachio.