We know that the pistachio tree is closely connected with Aegina, but we don’t know exactly when it arrived on the island.
The famous German botanist Theodor von Heldriech vistited Aegina six times during the 19th century. In his work the “Flora of Aegina” he refers to all the native plants which were discovered by him and earlier botanists. He also noted the plants which were cultivated in different areas (vines, olives, cereals, vegetables etc). But he doesn’t mention the pistachio tree. However that doesn’t mean that there weren’t some individual trees in some gardens which escaped his notice.
There is a version which says that the pistachio tree came to Aegina from Persia in 1867. It is also worth noting that in the Kypraiou estate there were some very old trees which an ancestor had brought from Chios, towards the end of the 19th century. One of those trees still survives today.
Latterly, in Aegina’s historical archives, Anna Yiannoulis found a document which is a serious indication that there were fruit-bearing pistachio trees in Aegina in 1896. The document is a summons sent by one Konstantinos Tsoumas against Vasileous Granitsa. Tsoumas states that he delivered to Granitsa 12 ‘okades’ (one oka was 1.282 kilos until it was discontinued in 1959) of pistachios for him to sell on his behalf at 4 drachmas an oka. After Granitsa sold them he should therefore give Tsoumas his share of 48 drachmas. Even though Granitsa sold them he refused to give the money to Tsoumas. From the summons it appears that it is a simple local transaction and the amount of nuts mentioned could have come from one or two productive trees in a garden.