Starbucks Pistachio Scroll

The Starbucks Pistachio Scroll costs £4.85 and carries 464 calories with 19g of sugar and 3.5g of fibre. A laminated pastry rolled into a spiral with a pistachio filling.

19g of sugar is the lowest figure in the Bakery case by a wide margin, against 34g in the caramel shortbread, 36g in the raspberry and coconut cube and 49g in the Victoria sponge. Anyone choosing from this case on sugar has one obvious answer and it is not the one the price suggests.

Nuts rather than sugar carry the flavour, which is the whole reason. Pistachio is rich, faintly savoury and distinctive enough that a filling built on it does not need sweetening to register, and that also explains the 27g of fat. Most of that is nut fat, though 15g is saturated, which points at butter in the laminated dough rather than at the pistachios themselves.

A scroll and a croissant come from the same laminated tradition and diverge at the last step. Rolled into a spiral and cut across, the layers face upwards rather than outwards, so they lift into a visible coil in the oven instead of a crescent. It bakes flatter and denser than a croissant and holds a filling that a crescent could not.

3.5g of fibre is good for a pastry and comes from the nuts. Salt at 0.78g is the second highest in the case, and protein at 7.5g is respectable.

Pistachio appears in the allergen list as its own line, separate from other nuts, and that is worth reading carefully. A pistachio allergy is distinct from an almond or walnut one, and this is the only item on the Starbucks UK menu that declares it.

Soya, barley, pistachio, wheat and milk are the declared allergens, with no diet labelling. It is the joint most expensive item in the case, reaching £5.75 on delivery. The cinnamon bun is the other spiral at £4.00.