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I had written this cute little paragraph about all the pestos americans don't know about, and then Microsoft lost my file in between saving it (I thought), exiting and emailing it to myself from my laptop to my desktop where all my website files are housed. So let's start again.
Over in Italy in some supermarkets there are literally dozens of different kinds of pesto sauces. In the summer of 2025 in a PIM supermarket store we patronize when temporarily impersonating actual Romans, I often call ourselves Romani estivi (summer Romans), or Romani finti (fake Romans), anyway, I was blown away by this entire display of a zillion pesto sauces with a few not-actual-pesto similarly jarred sauces thrown into the mix, so I took this photo that is not completely in focus so I cannot read all the different jar labels.
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On the top row towards the right you can find another of our personal favorites in Rome, radicchio e speck (ham). That is when we used to actually cook dinner instead of enjoying Rome's great restaurant scene.
The standard packaging seems to be in little glass jars of weight 185 g (6.5 oz). Unlike the gynormous American jars of mostly red pasta sauces of various kinds. To satisfy the urge to drown pasta instead of adding sparingly a tasty lubricant. Pasta water is also a welcome part of using these small jars to coat all the pasta in a pot. And note the prices compared to US special pestos! Only 2.86 bucks at current exchange rates. Life is expensive here. We pay about 3 times the price for two cappuccinos and two cornetti (croissants) here compared to our high end residential neighborhood in Rome. And that is before that tip window pops up for electronic payments.
And even a pistacchio cornetto at the same price!
Finally after forever that only the usual green basil and pine nut "pesto genovese" reigned supreme here in the USA, a few others leaked across the Atlantic eventually finding a place in some of our supermarkets and Italian specialty stores. Like red pesto, the short name for the Sicilian sun-dired tomato pesto that Piero introduced us to in person in Munich way back at the very turn of the century. And then in 2026 pistachio pesto showed up in our local Whole Foods store and we used it on some Rummo then De Cecco gnocchi we also picked up there and it was fabulous both times. We had been enjoying it for years in Italy as another popular Sicilian product, capitalizing on its prized pistacchio nuts, particularly those called pistacchi di Bronte. Pistachios also happen to be Ani's favorite nut, probably from associations with her Middle East childhood. And one of only two flavors of gelato she will eat in Italy. The other is nocciole (hazelnut). And you always get two flavors in the minimum serving, so that is what we get when we share. Both are made into terrific sweet spreads, hazelnut paired with chocolate (Nutella anyone? but we prefer healthier brands), and pistachio flying solo.
But then I found a copy of what I had written in one of way too many Google Chrome windows that i had opened and moved on! Resurrected by dumb luck. Let's see how it started.
Until relatively recently only the usual green basil and pine nut "pesto genovese" had found its way to America, but finally a few more variations that are commonplace in Italy have found a place in some of our supermarkets. In some Italian supermarkets you can find lliterally dozens of specialized pestos. Usually in little glass jars of weight 185 g (6.5 oz). The Sicilian variation with sun dried tomatoes is called "red pesto" here and is found in many supermarkets, but the pistachio pesto is a recent arrival in our US markets.