discovering green almonds

i bought these the other day thinking they were fresh almonds but not knowing any more than that. it turns out they are fresh green almonds which are only available for a few weeks each year.

apparently they are eaten raw. and whole. that’s right, give them a wash and then bite in through that soft fuzzy green skin and into the nut. the centre of each, which will form the almond itself, is at this young stage a slightly bitter flavoured gel. the flesh around it reminded me of the unripe (or only just ripe) slightly sour peaches which used to grown in our garden in malawi. interesting to try...

if anyone knows of other ways to eat/use them i'd love to know. and if you're in london and fancy trying them, i bought mine at the wonderful green valley on upper berkeley street, w1h 5qe.

Comments

[Arundathi]

That's really interesting - never seen fresh almonds before. David Lebovitz has a lovely write-up about green almonds too:
http://www.davidlebovitz.com/archives/2006/06/green_almonds_a.html

[abby]

thanks for the link arundathi. david's almonds are older than mine as they have the nut in the centre, so wouldn't be eaten whole. it'd be interesting to try them at that stage too.

[Bellini Valli]

I learn something new every day:D

[emma]

The green almonds looked so intriguing I popped in to look for them on sunday on the way to marylebone farmers market but no joy. Picked up lots of other goodies though - including burkukis, dried limes and mango powder. I'm sure I've seen recipes using these somewhere....

[abby]

hi emma, i too have mango and lime powders based on vague memories of recipes calling for their use!

we'll have to help each other track down those elusive recipes which we once read but aren't sure where they are...

[aj]

Wow, those are early! Where were they from? (ie what country?) Mine (French) aren't at that stage yet. But we are watching them carefully as they do ripen (and the hard casing forms) really quickly.
I don't eat the green skin, the texture puts me off!
As for recipes, nope I don't know of any for cooking with them per se ... we just eat'em as fruit. ; )

[abby]

sorry aj, i can't help - the shop didn't state their origin. i've not seen them in there since i bought my original batch.

[Hank]

Once they get a little older, they will be good eaten with a little olive oil and salt. I have several ancient trees in my yard that give me a few each spring...

[abby]

you're very lucky to have your trees hank - i've yet to see these back in the shops and am thinking i may have missed out on trying any more mature nuts.

[AlexH]

You can get bags of them in fruit shops in Wood Green, London, N22 at the moment if you're interested..they're £3.99 a bag..

[Toddy]

I got some today at Despina's in N11, famous Greek Cypriot shop in Arnos Grove. £8.99 a kg, loose, and I came online to see what to do. Interesting! I should have asked in the shop I guess, they're really friendly!

[abby]

what will you do with them toddy?

[NYC]

Hi
bought the green fresh almonds .. coated with olive oil and salt and on a small skewer, Grilled them! They were ok raw.. Amazing Grilled!!!!

[no name]

put salt on them and eat them.

[Penny]

Super King in Los Angeles has them for 97cents a pound! Just bought a huge bagful and will try some roasted with veggies, and leave some to try fresh with salt as everyone suggests.

[Wintrroses]

Two recipes at the bottom of this site.

http://www.todayszaman.com/tz-web/detaylar.do?load=detay&link=173585

[Lynne]

I live in Brisbane Queensland Australia. I tried a small fresh almond as they were advertised on Sunday 24th Oct at a fruit & veg store. I had not seen them before. Priase God I only ate a small one as 30 secs later I had lost my breath & took a coughing attack. the attack lasted about 15mins at least & in that time I also got the shakes. my hands were shaking badly & even into my arms. As a result I had to visit my dr this afternoon who said that there could have been poison in the skin from sprays & that the fruit had not stood long enough before it went on sale to absorb the poison that was sprayed over the skin to stop birds eating the fruit.. so anyone reading this, be careful eating this fruit. NEVER again will I eat one,

[abby]

i'm sorry you had such a bad experience lynne, that sounds terrifying!

[Bob]

Saw a good page on green almonds on the Australian Nut Directory site www.austnuts.com.au/almondsgreen.html

[abby]

thanks bob - that's great!