Wandering around stores or among the stalls at an agri-food fair, you might notice that pistachio creams from different manufacturers have very different colors, even when they are made from the same variety of pistachio. One cream may be a green that tends to brownish, another a bright, beautiful green, and a third almost aged gold. Well, you won't believe it, but color is a very good indicator of how natural and suited to your taste a pistachio cream is.
In fact, you should know that all pistachio creams start from a base called pure pistachio paste. This pure paste is obtained by lightly roasting the pistachios and then finely grinding them to a creamy paste with an intense flavor. The resulting color is a green that tends to light brown. To give you an idea, we have put a picture of our pure paste below.
Pure pistachio paste can also be purchased and is used for pastry creations such as cakes, ice creams, macarons, creams,... we refer to it as "Sciara 100% pistachio cream" when it is in 90g or 190g home format and as "Sciara pistachio ice cream base" in the larger packages intended for professionals.
But back to the color of pistachio cream. We have seen that pure pistachio paste is a green color that tends to brownish, and this shade will change depending on the dilution and method of preparation of the cream. The same concept applies to ice creams, liqueurs and all other pistachio preparations on the market.
- Bright green. This color cannot be obtained simply from pure pistachio cream. Certainly food coloring has been added to the pistachio cream to make it look more inviting. This is often done to mask the small amount of pistachio used. It will most likely not be called "pistachio cream" on the label, but more simply "pistachio-flavored cream."
- Green-beige. We are dealing with the most classic pistachio creams, the ones you know for their mouthwateringness. They are made by mixing pure pistachio cream with a white cream base, in a percentage around 20-30%. The result is a pistachio cream with a lighter green color, which can tend to beige, but never bright green! One example is our "pistachio cream Sciara - La Classica."
- Olive green. Pistachio creams that are distinguished by a somewhat less sweet taste, with a more pronounced hint of roasted pistachio, have a percentage of pure pistachio cream around 40-50% and are characterized by an olive color, a green that tends to brownish. One example is our "60% Sciara Pistachio Cream - La Intensa."
- Green gold. We are always dealing with creams around 50 percent pure pistachio cream, but hiding a secret, extra virgin olive oil. In fact, the pistachio base in contact with the olive oil abandons even more of its green to tend toward antique-gold. Usually only one other ingredient is added to this mix, sugar, so as to keep the product healthier and suitable for those who are lactose intolerant. And it is this gold color that inspired the name of our most precious line, the "Gold" line precisely, and specifically the name of our "Sciara Gold Pistachio Cream."
Update to 11/12/2023.
