---

Biodegradable edible coatings, their enrichment with essential oils and their use on the surface of fruits are influential approaches that can reduce the problems of post-harvest management, thereby maintaining the quality of the produce. In this study, different concentrations of Arabic gum (0, 6 and 8% w/v) were used in combination with different concentrations of Shirazi thyme essential oil (0, 0.3 and 0.5% w/v), and their effects were measured with respect to various qualitative characteristics of fresh pistachio nuts which were evaluated for a period of 36 days under conditions of storage at a temperature of 3 ± 1°C. The results showed that the growth of mold and yeast and the growth of aerobic bacteria on the samples were significantly less than in other samples when using the 6% Arabic gum concentration enriched with the essential oil of Shirazi thyme at 0.3 and 0.5%. Also, adding the essential oil of Shirazi thyme (at 0.3 and 0.5%) to the formulation of Arabic gum (6%) managed to reduce the occurrence of water loss from the fresh pistacia and significantly reduced the weight loss from the samples. The addition of essential oil to the Arabic gum coating contributed significantly to the preservation of carbohydrates, chlorophylls, phenolic compounds, and antioxidants in the kernels of the fresh pistachios. Therefore, the use of edible coatings of 6% Arabic gum containing Shirazi thyme essential oil (at 0.3 and 0.5%) can maintain the quality and increase the shelf life of fresh pistachio.

---

 Pistachio nut (Pistacia vera L.) is one of the most delicious and nutritious nuts in the world. In order to increase the added value of the pistachio nuts, it is necessary to develop new products to meet consumer needs. This is the first paper on pistachio halva. The product was developed using pistachio paste (as main ingredient), mixture of sugar-glucose, egg white and citric acid. The effect of soapwort root extract (from saponaria officinalis) and Glycyrrhizin (from Glycyrrhiza glabra) as whitening and emulsifying agent in three levels (0.00, 0.10, and 0.15%) on the oil separation, consumer acceptance, and texture of pistachio halva was investigated. Sensory evaluation was carried out after 4 months storage at 20±2°C. There was a significant difference (P< 0.05) between samples with and without soapwort and glycyrrhizin. The oil separation (R= 0.595, P=0.001), from halva were moderately correlated to the hardness. The sensory texture of halva was negatively correlated to the hardness (R= -0.694, P= 0.000) and oil separation (R= -0.730, P= 0.000). The sensory color (R= 0.652, P= 0.000) of halva was moderately correlated to the a-value. It is recommended that mixture of 0.10% soapwort root extract and 0.10% commercial Glycyrrhizin be used for the pistachio halva production. Using combination of soapwort root extract and Glycyrrhizin in the formulation of pistachio halva prevents oil separation from the product and increases its consumer acceptance. Development of pistachio halva would potentially increase the food uses of nuts and introduce consumers with a healthier non-animal snack food.

---

Pistachio nut (Pistacia vera L.) is one of the popular and nutritious tree nuts in the world. Pistachio spread is a new product which is made from pistachio paste, icing sugar, Soy Protein Isolate (SPI), and Red Palm Oil (RPO). This study involved sensory acceptability (by 32 assessors) using Hedonic scale and development of suitable terminology for describing pistachio spread using Quantitative Descriptive Analysis (QDA). This study represents the first report on using QDA for sensory evaluation of pistachio products. The QDA method is used to determine the sensory profile of the two pistachio spreads with higher acceptability in the Hedonic scale (Formulation 12 including 50% pistachio paste, 30% icing sugar, and 20% RPO and Formulation 16 including 58.3% pistachio paste, 25% icing sugar, and 16.7% RPO). According to the results, RPO has a direct effect on the sensory acceptance of pistachio spread (P< 0.05). Eight panelists were selected for evaluation of pistachio spread. Twenty attributes (in terms of appearance (green color, visible particles, glossy), aroma (sweet, roasted, nutty, milky/creamy), flavor taste (beany, sweet, oily, bitter, nutty, creamy), texture (stickiness, oiliness, firmness, adhesiveness, spreadability), and aftertaste (bitter, astringency) were identified and developed for the product. No significant difference was observed in all pistachio spread formulations attributes, except for sweetness (P< 0.05).

---

The combined coating-effects of Sodium Alginate (SA) and Thyme Essential Oil (TEO) was investigated at three levels of, respectively, (0.0, 1.0, and 1.5 %) and (0.0, 0.3, and 0.5%) on fresh pistachio during 6 weeks of cold (3±1°C) storage. Physiochemical parameters (hull and hard-shell color, hull hardness, soluble sugar, chlorophyll, and soluble solids content) and microbial load (plate count agar) were measured every 2 weeks of storage. Similarly, the sensory attributes of pistachio were evaluated by trained panelists and Quantitative Descriptive Analysis (QDA) method from minimum (1) to maximum level (15) score. While weight loss of each pistachio sample increased during storage time, those treated with alginate had considerably less weight losses than other treatments. The pistachio treated with combination of SA (1%) and TEO(0.3 or 0.5%) showed significantly higher hull hardness, L* values, soluble sugar, chlorophyll, and lower growth of microorganisms (mainly yeast and mold) than other treated and non-treated (control) samples. The highest sensory scores of 12.3 and 10.6 for hull color of pistachio were related to samples coated again with combinations of SA (1%) and TEO (0.3 or 0.5%), respectively, and were significantly higher than the score of control sample (6.4). Since the pistachio treated with the above-mentioned concentrations of SA and TEO had significantly higher physiochemical, microbiological, and sensory attributes than the other samples, their quality indicators were superior to other treatments (including control samples) and, most probably, they had longer shelf lives and potential to preserve their natural characteristics of fresh pistachio during storage.