Alamogordo, NM
Would you believe me if I told you the world’s largest pistachio was right here in New Mexico?
Located 3 hours south of Albuquerque and 90 minutes north of El Paso, you’ll find McGinn’s Pistachioland. On our way to Santa Fe, NM we saw signs on the interstate for Pistachioland, and quickly had to make a pit stop.
Pistachioland erected a 30-foot concrete pistachio in its front yard to honor its late founder, which attracts travelers to get off the road for a while and come visit them. We ventured around the general store, and as soon as we entered, we were offered samples of peach lemonade and cherry cola slushies. We then tried samples of their flavored pistachios. There are about a dozen flavors of shelled pistachios in store for free samples. My favorites were the ranch and garlic, so I had to buy a few bags to take home with me.
The general store has almost anything you can think of made from pistachios for sale, including pistachio flour, and pistachio butter, along with local delicacies like red and green chile, prickly pear candies, prickly pear margarita mix (which I of course picked up), clothing, spices, honey, sauces, and a thousand other novelty items!
If you’re a little more intrigued about the farm, McGinn’s offers tours of the grounds, which last ~20 minutes, and run twice per hour. We purchased tickets in the general store for $3. Our guide showed us the grape vineyards, as well as the pistachio farm and told us that McGinn’s produces 49% of the world’s pistachios. Pistachios are native to the Middle East, but were brought to the California 50 - 60 years ago. The trees didn’t survive once planted because they can only bear fruit in their native land. Our guide pointed out that all of the pistachio trees have a dark root, and a ashy grey/brown trunk — that’s because all pistachio trees in the U.S. are hybrid formulated. Somehow the roots are formulated from Middle Eastern pistachio trees and are blended with the U.S. hybrid trees. Once the scientists got the formula correct, growers across the Southwest began to grow the new hybrids and the plants made their way to McGinn’s. Pistachio trees take about 8 years to bear nuts, so it is definitely a labor of love.
Not only does McGinn’s grow pistachios, but they grow grapes as well! They have their own vineyard and bottle wine on site. Some of their specialty wine flavors include pistachio, pomegranate, and a chocolate dessert wine. You can order their wine online, as well as many of their items that are for sale in the general store are also available online.
Inside the general store you can taste up to 4 wines for free from McGinn’s wines.
When we first arrived, there was a line wrapped around the side of the building. I thought it was for entry to the store or for a tour, but it was for the ice cream shop! McGinn’s has a few specialty housemade flavors, but they sell Blue Bell ice cream by the scoop as well. Their biggest draw in is their housemade pistachio ice cream made with pistachios from the farm. Unfortunately, the only place you can try their pistachio ice cream is at McGinn’s because they don’t wholesale their ice cream to local businesses, which means you absolutely have to come to Alamogordo to try it. I had my first banana split here, and it is great that they allow you to customize the flavors. I tried their famous pistachio ice cream along with Blue Bell’s red velvet and vanilla bean ice cream.
We didn’t do this, but I highly recommend visiting McGinn’s Pistachioland and the White Sand National Monument on the same day. They are ~20 minutes away from each other, and both are must-see attractions. Pistachioland closes at 5pm, and White Sand’s visitor center closes at 6pm, but park entry is allowed until 9pm. The entry fee is $25 per car, and you can drive 8 miles on the designated route. The entry fee is valid for seven days, like most national parks, so if you need to spend more than one day in the park, $25 is a great value! The park also accepts the National Parks pass and other interagency passes. Most people go to the white sand dunes to picnic/BBQ and of course sled down the dunes. If you don’t bring your own sled, no worries. Pistachioland sells sleds for $19. White Sands National Monument sells new sleds in their gift shop for $24, and used sleds for $21. Once you’re done, if you no longer want your sled you can return it to the gift shop for a $5 store credit. As a heads up, almost nothing in the shop costs $5 besides some crystals.
While you can only drive around 8 miles of the national park, the white sands span over 270 square miles! The white gypsum sands are naturally occurring and have been there for over 10,000 years.
The selenite crystals are often made in to jewelry and sold throughout New Mexico. However, taking the white sand out of the national park is forbidden.
Once you make it to the sand dunes, there is a boardwalk to watch the sun set as well as interactive guides on the wildlife and plants in the park. There are very few shaded areas in the park besides the picnic areas, so use enough sunscreen, and drink a ton of water because the sun is intense beaming off of the sand.
