Perfect Conditions…Perfect Nuts
California’s central valley provides the ideal environment for growing the nation’s best tasting pistachios. Arid climate, cold temperatures from November through February and hot temperatures from June through September provide the perfect balance for pistachios to thrive. With ownership in over 7,000 acres of planted pistachios, totaling nearly 1 million pistachio trees, Setton and its grower partners are advocates of healthy farming and follow Good Agricultural Practices (GAP’s) which assure that our pistachios are grown responsibly.
Our Roots Run Deep
As a family run company, our roots run deep and are strong, much like a pistachio tree. Pistachio roots can grow over 50 feet in length, and feature tap roots, which act as anchors and prevent trees from falling over. Pistachio trees prefer deep soil and are very hardy trees, bearing fruit between 5-7 years after planting and thrive for hundreds of years. Pistachio trees are resilient and can sustain adverse growing conditions one year and make up for it by thriving the next year.
Growth Cycle
Pistachios are wind pollinated, with 1 male tree to 24 female trees. They bloom in April with the shell and outer hull forming from April through mid May. From mid May to July only the vegetative part or the tree grows. The pistachio fruit or the nut starts to fill the shell cavity in July until the nut breaks open the shell around the first week of September. Setton’s pistachios are then harvested at their peak of freshness. The entire harvest typically lasts 5-6 weeks, but our farms are typically harvested in 2-10 days only.
Natural Beauty
In their natural form, pistachios have a creamy ivory shell, a vibrant green kernel and a brown and purple hued skin. The trees they are grown on are just as beautiful and feature a canopy of leaves that extend 15 to 20 feet. At just about 15 feet tall, these petite trees feature bright green leaves with reddish yellow colored hulls that evoke a sense of pride for our family of farmers that grow them.
Safety First
Setton maintains one of the most sophisticated food safety programs in the entire nut industry with self-imposed quality and technical standards that exceed government guidelines. Setton’s food safety program starts in our pistachio orchards, where we have implemented a Good Agricultural Practices program that educates our grower-partners on best practices for farming and harvesting as well as bringing them up to speed on the latest agricultural research. Sophisticated irrigation systems ensure that water is never wasted.
Sophisticated Tracking System
Setton’s pistachios are mechanically harvested utilizing a sophisticated process that prevents the pistachios from ever touching the ground. Pistachios are mechanically shaken from the trees, then caught into a specialized canopy and finally conveyed into Setton’s pistachio trailers. Setton’s grower receiving system tracks all trucks using GPS and RFID in route to Setton’s state of the art pistachio processing facility, and captures details such as when the pistachios were harvested, when they were moved, and tracks the trucks specific movement throughout the state, thus safeguarding Setton’s pistachios to a level unparalleled in the industry.
Freshness You Can Taste
Within just a few hours of being harvested the pistachios are brought to Setton’s pistachio facility where the outer hull is removed, the pistachios are washed, dried and sorted according to quality. Skilled operators ensure that the Setton’s pistachios are never over dried at high temperatures which can “cook” the nut. As a result, Setton’s pistachios retain their natural sweet buttery taste and are routinely referred to as “America’s best tasting pistachios”.
