Zenobia Company was founded in 1926 by Joseph A. Zaloom. He emigrated to the United States from Syria and named the company for a Roman queen Zenobia -- a well-known historical figure to Middle Eastern people, then the major consumers of pistachio nuts. Zenobia ruled much of the Middle East around 300 A.D. By some historical accounts, Zenobia planned her husband's assassination and ruled Asia Minor for four years, until the Roman army defeated her soldiers. Some historians say that, when she was captured, Zenobia escaped execution by blaming her advisors. She returned to Rome married a Senator, moved to his villa... lived happily ever after and became the namesake of a 20th century nut company!

During the 1930s, Zaloom sold the company to John Germack. Over the next decades, Zenobia came to dominate the pistachio business in the U.S. During World War II, Germack arranged for Liberty ships to ferry his cargo across the Atlantic Ocean, avoiding enemy submarines. His gamble gave Zenobia the only wartime supply of pistachios in the United States.

In 1971, Germack sold the company to the Agress and Bobker families, who had been in the pistachio business for many years and were also the longtime processors of the classic Indian brand pumpkin and sunflower seeds.

Today, Zenobia is in its third generation of family ownership