Almond Update

After letting the almonds that I harvested a few weeks ago dry in the sun for a week, I spent about an hour removing the shells from each of them. I hit each almond with a meat pounder to break the shells and then removed the almond nuts inside. The almond nuts were about half the size of almonds that are typically sold commercially. I then dry roasted our almonds in an oven on a cookie sheet (without any oil or salt) for about 30 minutes at 325 degrees F.

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I am very impressed with the flavor of our home grown almonds. Our home grown almonds, although small, are much tastier than other almonds I have eaten in recent memory. Our home grown almonds have a great nutty flavor that lingers in the mouth. It’s a flavor that I don’t think I’ve ever tasted in almonds before. They are very flavorful even without salt or some other seasoning. Based on this first crop, I think that almonds are well worth growing at home, just to get to taste their full flavor. Although, it is a lot of work netting the tree, harvesting the almonds, hulling each almond, and then removing the shell from each almond.

I was concerned when I planted this tree that our summers would not be hot enough to get the almonds to ripen properly. But apparently, at least this variety (Garden Prince) produces great tasting almonds in a climate having warm summers, but not hot summers. Although, I doubt that any almonds would ripen properly close to the California coast where they would be exposed to fog and cold all summer. However, the foggy nights that we get in our area probably contributed to mold and mildew that formed on many of the almond shells. Fortunately, all of the almonds nuts inside the shells were completely free of mold and mildew.

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October 03 2013 09:19 pm | Almond