I did a pseudo scientific study this last week on a line of pistachios available in a local store. I found that the math supports one outcome but that this information does not tell the entire story. Like most other things, it’s a matter of what you value most.
Wonderful pistachios are sold in two varieties: with or without shells. The shelled bag contains 170g and sells for $4.88 and the bag with shells contains 250g and sells for $4.48. If you remove the mass in the larger bag that constitutes shells, I discovered that 190g of the larger but cheaper bag was shell mass and hence inedible to humans. This means that if you are looking at the amount of nut you get for your dollar, you get a better deal from the small but more expensive bag.
Not all things are about math. The bags do taste different, and one is easier to inhale in one sitting than the other. The shells must be removed to eat one bag, meaning you work for the nuts and hence eat fewer. Also, the shells may protect the nuts from absorbing chemicals (natural ones too) that change the taste of the nuts. In fact, one major role of a nut’s shell is to keep the environment out until the embryo within is ready to grow into a new tree. My father, for example, informed me that he prefers the taste of the nuts that he must first remove from the shell.
Each consumer must choose what he values most in making a choice from this information. Personally, I object to the notion that 67% of the bag with shells is shell. At the very least, those bags should not be more money let alone increasing in price. I have found that people make better decisions when they have more information. I spoke with a fellow at the store last night who has noticed that people report only the information most often with which they already happen to agree. Feel free to fact check my analysis. I encourage people to do their own homework. It will help you make a better choice.
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