March 1999

This was a large pistachio tree at Tell Dan beginning to sprout leaves in mid-March.  Wild pistachio nuts were collected by poor rural people for use as food.  Pistacia atlantica and pistacia terebinthus were both native to Israel. 

Pistacia Atlantica at Tell Dan - Sept. 2003

The fruits were a bit like turpentine.  I had read that some people had eaten the seeds that were enclosed by the fruit.  These were nutty.  There were also pistacia atlantica trees in the far south, south of Beersheba/Beersheva in the Negev Highlands.  Some wandering out of Egypt towards and into these areas may have found the tree provided leaves as fodder for small livestock and edible seeds in season. 

I have also read that starving Bedouin nomads wandering across the Sinai found juniper berries in the mountains and used them as food during famines. 

The pistacia vera was the pistachio sold in stores in the US.  It it is not native to Israel.