
Probably native to Iran and adjacent areas, pistachios have been carbon-dated to 6760 BC. This nut of antiquity is one of two mentioned in the Old Testament. Pistachios are said to have featured in the fabled Hanging Gardens of Babylon, built about 700 BC by King Nebuchadnezzar to cheer up his wife, Amytis, who found the flat Babylonian landscape dreary.