March 25, 2018 - Alamogordo pistachios

On our was out of town, we stopped at a pistachio farm and glad we did.  Although they didn't have a tour available, Marilyn gave us the rundown.  Pistachios grow on trees.  Most of the US crop (98%) comes from California while remaining 2% are grown in New Mexico. 

The pistachios are usually harvested in September.  The harvesting procedure involves a shaker that actually shakes the trees resulting in the ripe pistachios falling on to a collector platform.  This business has 13,300 trees.

These pistachios are not ripe because they are not split open.

The trees are male and female trees.  This orchard has 1 male tree for about 13 female trees.  Neither type of trees are ready yet but are starting to bloom.  This is a male bud that produces the pollen.

This is the female blossom just starting to open up.

The farm does not use bees to pollinate.  They rely an a southwest winds to spread the pollen throughout the pistachio orchard. When the pistachio develops, it is covered by an outer coat called the epicarp.  The epicarp softens and falls off the next layer.  The pistachios are lightly sanded for a few seconds to remove it to make sure of its removal.

If the pistachio bloom is not pollinated, the pistachio will not develop, and during the shaking process the unpollinated ones do not fall off the tree.  They are manually removed before the next years growth begins, usually in January.  The pods remain empty.

Besides the pistachios, they also sell wine.  Out back of the gift shop is a patio space available for events.

We arrived in Albuquerque mid afternoon with the sun still shining.  Thanks for asking Where's Grammie?