Almond Joy

I know what you are thinking.  Here is another dry blog about a small nut that you may or may not like.  What’s more, the blogger already has an entry about Sam Cabral's amazing olive-oiled, sea-salted almonds.  In point of fact, this is an interim blog until I can figure out how to take amazing pictures of food and crafts like my friend, Suzie.

I have been eating almonds almost daily for over a year and I never grow tired of them.  Currently, my daily snack is comprised of eating raw almonds and dry roasted almonds (with a little bit of dark chocolate) and I am enjoying the sweetness of the moist meat.  The dry roasted variety is more crunchy than the raw ones.  It is true that these are Sam’s almonds, so of course they are wonderful… just because. 

Almonds are a fruit in the genus Prunus, which also includes peaches, nectarines, apricots, plums and cherries. Almonds are Prunus dulcis (a.k.a amygdalus). The word almond comes from the old French word almande, which comes from the Latin word amingdola which originated from the word amygdala, which  is the Greek word for almond.  Now you know why the amygdala is called the amygdala. Almonds are native to the Mediterranean part of the Middle East and they migrated in ancient times (the Bronze Age) to North Africa and southern Europe. Almonds were even found in Tutankhamen’s tomb…a very lucky thing to have in the next life.  They eventually made it to us where we welcomed them with open arms.  

We are very lucky to be able to grow almonds in California.  In fact, I have an almond tree growing in my front yard and enjoy the nuts as much as our neighborhood squirrel does. California produces 80% of the world’s almonds, if you can believe it. Actually, if the truth be known, an almond (according to my husband Michael) is a drupe, which is a fleshy fruit with a hard pit in it’s center.  Almonds and peaches are closely related and when they are both young, they look very similar: a green fuzzy fruit with the characteristic crease down one side. Both are somewhat fleshy. In the peach, the fleshy part grows larger and softer as it ripens. In the almond this outer fleshy layer dries out and splits and may eventually fall off, leaving the pit exposed. So the part we eat (inside the pit) is actually the seed and the little brown papery package that covers the gift is the seed coat. The shell is part of the fruit. The wild almond is toxic due to a high concentration of cyanide, but our domestic almond is not toxic at all and is exceptionally good for your body. 

Almonds are an amazing source of good fat, the heart healthy poly- and monounsaturated kinds of oil.  Of all the tree nuts, almonds have the most dietary fiber (more than 3 g/oz) and protein coming in at 6 g/oz.  They also contain a pretty good dose of calcium coming in at 80 mg/oz.  They also have a high concentration of vitamin E, which is a potent antioxidant.  If all this wasn’t enough, almonds also contain essential minerals like selenium, zinc, copper, calcium, iron, magnesium and other phyto (=plant) chemicals. There are studies that show that almonds are good for your cholesterol profile, decreasing harmful LDL levels in the body.

Almonds can be caloric, so don’t go hog wild, but it is safe to say that eating some every day is good for you.  There are many ways to enjoy almonds.  You can find them roasted, raw, olive-oiled, mashed into a delightful butter, ground and baked into cobblers, tortes and cookies.  It doesn’t matter what form they take.  Apparently, they all are good for you. However, due to the high fat content (as with all nuts) they are prone to go rancid. Almonds should be stored in an air tight container in your refrigerator.I can’t eat gluten so I often use ground almonds in recipes and the flavor and texture is amazing.  My kids who are gluten gluttons love my almond baked goods as much as their floury counterparts.

My recipe for almonds is from another blog, Elana’s pantry, a great gluten free almond meal for baking promoting site.  Of course, if you are a purist you can just eat them by the handfuls like I do.

Gluten Free Chocolate Chip Cookies

2 ½ cups blanched almond flour *

¼ teaspoon celtic sea salt

¼ teaspoon baking soda

10 tablespoons butter, melted

1 tablespoon vanilla extract 

½ cup agave nectar

1 cup dark chocolate chips 73% cacao

1.     Combine dry ingredients in a large bowl

2.     Stir together wet ingredients in a smaller bowl

3.     Mix wet ingredients into dry

4.     Form 1¨ balls and press onto a parchment lined baking sheet

5.     Bake at 350° for 7-10 minutes

6.     Cool and serve

Makes 24 cookies

print friendly recipe

* Please note: Bob's Red Mill almond flour does not yield successful results when used in this recipe. For more information regarding this matter please see my FAQs.

P.S. The almond meal that works best is by Honeyville 

I used Wikipedia for some of my information and Cholesterol Down by Janet Bond Brill 

Other links:

Almond Board

Nuts for Almonds Website

Botanical.com