GREEN GOLD

Turkey, Iran, Afghanistan, Italy, Syria - and Prieska? It's not the first place you think of when you hear the word 'pistachios' but it should be! Katelyn Allegra aka The Kate Tin travels to the Northern Cape to visit South Africa's first pistachio farm

'Beware of the kudus' was the message that popped up on my phone from Rina Coetzee. I was on the long road to Prieska, which winds from the Western Cape through the Cederberg and into the Northern Cape. It is a breathtaking trip but one that many people thought I was, pun intended, nuts, to make. Yes, I was travelling 800 km across the country to meet The Queen of Pistachios.

I struggle to keep up with Rina as she speeds through the dirt roads on their farm, past miles of mielies before stopping close to the banks of the Orange River. Here, the pistachio trees drink from their namesake, the Senqu River, a nod to the river's origin in Lesotho. Combined with freezing cold nights and scorching hot days, this water gives Senqu River pistachios their incredible flavour.

Rina and I take a walk under the shade of the leafy pistachio trees. We've just missed the harvest but here and there are branches with sprays of nuts left to ripen a little longer. It took decades for them to reach this point. For our first harvest, the trees were four years old. All we got from this entire orchard was a small bucketful! she laughs. With pistachio trees only giving a proper harvest after eight years, it's a long-term investment that requires patience. We are in year twenty five and we are still not in full production. These trees can grow to one hundred years old! There's a saying in our industry that you plant pistachio trees for your grandchildren'.