Aw, nuts!
Hi! Two of my friends are in town visiting so I didn't think I'd have time to post until they left, but here I am...until we have to leave for Santisima at 3:15 anyways. I went to high school with Marie, who is an RN, and she and her husband Philip now reside in Riverside, CA, where he is getting his PhD in philosophy. Between them and Conversations in Spanish that was happening simultaneously, I've been having lots of excellent adventures! They arrived around 1 am on Tuesday night/Wednesday morning. Our first adventure began mid-morning on Wednesday: we went to 2 pistachio orchards in Alamagordo, NM and then on to White Sands! I felt bad arranging a day trip so soon after their 12 hour drive to get here, but due to my other commitments it was the only day I could be gone. It turned out to be an unforgettable time! The pistachio orchards have been on my bucket list of things to do for quite some time now, and I'm so glad we finally went. The tour at our first stop was fantastic. We all learned a ton, and of course sampled lots of pistachios and pistachio creations like popcorn and fudge. The second stop was...record-breaking. You'll see below ;) White Sands I've been to a bunch of times but it's someplace you just have to take out-of-town visitors. Here are the first of many photos from my week of playing tour guide:
There are male and female pistachio trees! Who knew? Apparently this is also true of cottonwoods and pecans. The males do all the pollination, and the females bear the fruit. There are differences in appearance as well: males are taller, darker, and have rougher bark.
Marie and I under a pistachio tree.
We had to wear hair nets (and Philip had to wear a beard & mustache cover) to go inside the processing facility.
"The ladies" who go through all of the pistachios by hand to remove any blemished ones, remnants of sticks or leaves, etc. They work 8 hour shifts at a time with 2 breaks and a lunch break.
The color sorter, which sorts pistachios (or any other type of small object--buttons, screws, etc.) by taking a picture of an ideal one, scanning each item that passes through, and rejecting any that don't match the picture.
Now on to the roasting & salting facility...they were making garlic & green chile flavored ones when we went through so it smelled soooo good! The white piece of equipment on the left side of this photo is basically a giant cooler, where the batches that have already been roasted and salted are cooled. Cold storage throughout a pistachio's journey from tree to shelf is what distinguishes smaller farms like this one from its major commercial counterparts in CA.
Pistachios are roasted in a single layer in this oven for 3 minutes per batch. This photo is also useful for explaining how Eagle Ranch is a completely Kosher facility. Our tour guide explained that usually they only make 1 flavor per day because the facility basically has to be cleaned until it would pass a white glove test before switching flavors. That includes completely disassembling and disinfecting the oven. All in all, it's about a 3 hour process.
We ended the tour in the building where more pistachios are stored, and where all of the packing and shipping takes place. The founders/owners of the ranch are big into quality control, so the weight of every bag is hand checked on the orange scale in the center of this photo before being shipped or sold.
The bin labels in the cold storage room looked like something I would do...
Me in a truck that's been a part of the operation since 1928. The owner's son learned to drive it in the fields when he was 7! Now it's used for county fairs, parades, etc.
Our 2nd stop was another pistachio orchard just down the road. No tour here, but I had printed some coupons for their gift shop off the website, and it's home to the world's largest pistachio! Do you think we should have parked in this space?
Marie and I at White Sands.
We arrived during the heat of the day but quickly found a gloriously shady spot. Our plan was to do the Sunset Stroll at 6:45, but since all of our timekeeping devices were in the car and we were having so much fun sledding, playing Frisbee, and burying Philip, we didn't leave until 7:30! Oh well!
I got a picture of the amazing sunset anyhow!
There are male and female pistachio trees! Who knew? Apparently this is also true of cottonwoods and pecans. The males do all the pollination, and the females bear the fruit. There are differences in appearance as well: males are taller, darker, and have rougher bark.
Marie and I under a pistachio tree.
We had to wear hair nets (and Philip had to wear a beard & mustache cover) to go inside the processing facility.
"The ladies" who go through all of the pistachios by hand to remove any blemished ones, remnants of sticks or leaves, etc. They work 8 hour shifts at a time with 2 breaks and a lunch break.
The color sorter, which sorts pistachios (or any other type of small object--buttons, screws, etc.) by taking a picture of an ideal one, scanning each item that passes through, and rejecting any that don't match the picture.
Now on to the roasting & salting facility...they were making garlic & green chile flavored ones when we went through so it smelled soooo good! The white piece of equipment on the left side of this photo is basically a giant cooler, where the batches that have already been roasted and salted are cooled. Cold storage throughout a pistachio's journey from tree to shelf is what distinguishes smaller farms like this one from its major commercial counterparts in CA.
Pistachios are roasted in a single layer in this oven for 3 minutes per batch. This photo is also useful for explaining how Eagle Ranch is a completely Kosher facility. Our tour guide explained that usually they only make 1 flavor per day because the facility basically has to be cleaned until it would pass a white glove test before switching flavors. That includes completely disassembling and disinfecting the oven. All in all, it's about a 3 hour process.
We ended the tour in the building where more pistachios are stored, and where all of the packing and shipping takes place. The founders/owners of the ranch are big into quality control, so the weight of every bag is hand checked on the orange scale in the center of this photo before being shipped or sold.
The bin labels in the cold storage room looked like something I would do...
Me in a truck that's been a part of the operation since 1928. The owner's son learned to drive it in the fields when he was 7! Now it's used for county fairs, parades, etc.
Our 2nd stop was another pistachio orchard just down the road. No tour here, but I had printed some coupons for their gift shop off the website, and it's home to the world's largest pistachio! Do you think we should have parked in this space?
Marie and I at White Sands.
We arrived during the heat of the day but quickly found a gloriously shady spot. Our plan was to do the Sunset Stroll at 6:45, but since all of our timekeeping devices were in the car and we were having so much fun sledding, playing Frisbee, and burying Philip, we didn't leave until 7:30! Oh well!
I got a picture of the amazing sunset anyhow!
More to come from what's been a hectic but wonderful week with some great company! Until next time, blessings!
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