Pistachios

I've never eaten pistachios. Nothing against them, they just haven't figured largely in my life.

In the last few days, though, they've crossed my path (so to speak) a couple of times. The other night, I was looking at the menu of a restaurant that served Turkish Delight. Plain TD was 50 cents; TD with pistachios was $3.50. I was surprised, but shrugged the disparity off as either my own myopia or a glitch on the wall-mounted menu.

Then I ran across a post about pistachios on the Web site for Toscanini's, a Boston-based ice cream store.

Pistachio nuts are another product that saw a huge price increase. The explanation is that suddenly richer countries like China and India are buying enough pistachios to raise prices. In fact there are reports of hijackings of agricultural commodities including nuts and tomatoes.

I guess the Turkish Delight with pistachios really is that much more expensive.

[UPDATE: Link to the Toscanini's blog courtesy of Kottke.]