Boz iç pistachio: harvest and supply season

Harvest calendar

The boz harvest comes before the ordinary harvest. The EU registration gives the most suitable time for boziç as the end of July to the first half of August; the Antep biscuit registration gives late July to 15 August, and the Antep baklava registration the first week of August.

The ordinary harvest starts in September and runs into the first week of October (Turkish Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry), so boz iç is picked 30 to 40 days ahead of it.

After the harvest

The Antep Fıstık Ezmesi registration describes what happens to boziç: empty nuts are separated in water, the nuts are dried in layers 3 to 5 centimetres deep, losing 45 to 50 per cent of their weight in water, and the shells are removed at processing plants.

More generally, according to the Ministry’s sector paper, pistachios are sorted and sun-dried to below 7 per cent moisture, a level that allows long storage, then hulled and cracked, and the kernel is taken out.

Why crops swing from year to year

Pistachio trees are alternate bearers: a tree that crops heavily one year bears little or nothing the next. According to TÜİK, Türkiye’s pistachio output was 296,000 tonnes in 2020, 119,000 tonnes in 2021 and 383,000 tonnes in 2024.

Telling your supplier your annual needs early makes planning easier.

How kernels are stored

The value of boz iç is its green colour, and heat and light weaken it. The sources recommend:

• Temperature: 0 to 10 °C, never above 20 °C; below 10 °C, relative humidity of 65 to 70 per cent (University of California, Davis, Postharvest Technology Center).
• Long-term storage: kernels can be kept frozen for a year or longer (same source).
• Boziç kernels that are not processed straight away should be kept in cold storage or vacuum packs (Antep Fıstık Ezmesi registration).
• Light: light-protective bags may be used for green pistachios (UNECE DDP-10). In one storage study, kernels kept at a high temperature (37 °C) lost chlorophyll markedly faster than kernels kept at 10 to 25 °C.

Supply from Pano Organic

Pano Organic supplies boz iç kernels from April to December. Give your volume, destination and preferred timing in the quote form; samples are available on request.