Stewarding Stories: Almond Fruit Arrives

/

About nine years ago we planted two almond trees Prunus Dulcis, they are close to the apples Malus and the peaches Prunus persica. The leaves of the almond trees and the peach trees are very similar.

It turns out, after years of waiting, the fruit of an almond tree is also very similar. Almonds look like an unripe small greenish peach. The skin of the fruit is fuzzy and soft. We are waiting for the outer green husk/fruit to split open to reveal the hardening inner seed. The inner seed is the shell that encloses the almond that we know and love.

There are 15 almonds on this tree. I made nut flour pancakes this morning (a mixture of almond, pumpkin seeds, walnuts, and hazelnuts in the blender). I measured out that it would take 55 almonds to make 1/2 cup of flour. Or, four trees, at our current rate of fecundity.*

It makes me want to chew each bite very very slowly.

Very

Very

Slowly

While I read about almonds in the wider world.

The majority of California grown almonds labeled as raw are mandated since 2007 to be pasteurized to reduce the incidence of Salmonella. The nuts are either steamed to 200F or they are fumigated with propylene oxide gas (PPO). The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) routinely tests imported food from the US for PPO and so far CFIA is allowing the food to be fed to Canadians.

So, once again, we are left with too much information and no idea whether what we are doing for our health is long term healthy or unhealthy.

Hmmm, maybe I will tweak my recipe to include only nuts that do not have PPO exposure.

And in the meantime, watch the fruit ripen.

Here is the well used and beloved recipe that you too can use for whatever non glutenous flour you want to make into either pancakes or waffles.

Here is the doubled recipe so you can have batter all week in the fridge.

  • 6 eggs

  • 2 cups nut/rice flour

  • 1 tablespoon baking powder

  • 1/2 teaspoon salt

  • 4 tablespoons oil

  • splash of cream/yogurt/coconut milk (whatever you have on hand)

You can add these to turbo charge your treat… or not as you feel

  • 1/2 cup of coconut flakes

  • 1 tablespoon vanilla

  • 1 tablespoon cinnamon (or more)

  • 1/2 tablespoon nutmeg and or cardamon

I recommend serving the pancakes with lots of butter and a sprinkling of cinnamon on top.


*Unlike California, we do not have a shortage of water in this part of the world. That being said, one almond tree in California probably groans under 15 fruit per foot, not per tree. The Almond Board of California argues very persuasively that every tree fruit for any tree grown anything requires a lot of water (pistachios, walnuts, peaches, plums, oranges, apples, pears, olives, etc). Moreover, the tree gifts us (they use the word produce) not just the almond nut. The hull and the shell of the nut, the coproducts, are used as “dairy feed and livestock bedding.” (Image below courtesy of Almond Board of California)