Pistachio power

The nut can now be found in both sweet and savoury dishes and even drinks

- Hedy Khoo

Diners are going nuts for pistachio. Once viewed as a premium snack for festive gifting or a swanky gelato flavour in Singapore, it is now not just in sweet confections, but also cocktails and savoury dishes.

The Flour Department, a bakery in Everton Park, has eight items on the menu featuring the little green powerhouse, from Pure Pistachio Latte ($8) to Pistachio Rigatoni Pasta ($20).

Over at Lofty Peaks in Serangoon Road, a bar which specialises in Indian-inspired cocktails, its Pistachio's Love Note ($20++) has been a bestseller since it was introduced in March 2022. The nut is a key ingredient in Indian cuisine.

The pistachio gained momentum as a flavour trend in 2023 and surged in popularity on the local food scene in 2024.

Back in 2016, when Patisserie Cle co-owners Joy Chiam, 30, and Germaine Li, 38, were in Paris for a year to study pastry arts at the L'ecole Francaise De Gastronomie Paris, they noticed how pistachio was a staple flavour at gelato shops and confectioneries in France and Italy.

Ms Chiam says: "Pistachio is a premium nut and a classic ingredient in pastry, especially in Europe. I love the flavour, but I never thought that there would be a craze for it or that it would blow up as a trend."

She figures revenge travellers to Europe may have been exposed to the pistachio, igniting interest in the nut.

The two pastry chefs launched their All Pistachio Cake ($72 for a six-inch cake, $102 for an eight-inch cake) in July 2023 when they noticed pistachio was taking off as a trend overseas.

A number of pastry chefs whom they followed on social media were featuring pistachio in their new creations. This included French pastry chef Yann Couvreur, who began posting a series of pistachio rolls photos on Instagram in May 2023.