[birgit]

I've bought a handful of green almonds a few days ago, hoping to find some recipe I could use them in. But I still have no idea what to do with them. Are they like vegetables? Or like olives? Is the green skin edible or only the white and soft almond in the middle? -- Lots of questions - does anybody know more?

[Rainey]

birgit- Altho I am not too far from almond growing regions, I have never heard of uses for unroasted almonds. I am intrigued. I would imagine they have quite a different taste and texture.

I have written to the almond growers professional group at http://www.almondboard.com/. You'll note their home page shows what I take to be a nut in the same state of growth/prep you are describing. Let's see what they come up with.

[Mike S]

Green almonds are used in middle eastern dishes. Here's a link:

http://www.foodnouveau.com/recipes/desserts/spreads/1/b.html

Check Google to find more.

[birgit]

Rainey, thank you very much for writing to the almond board, I'm looking forward to hear what they'll say. Indeed the almonds are looking like the one in the second picture on the left. Lovely green, a little bit furry at the outside and altogether very pretty.

Thank you Mike S as well for the link. I've already googled a lot, but I couldn't find much, actually there are different opinions out there. Some say you should never use the green shell, some say chill them whole, dip in coarse salt and mumble, some only use the almond and some say only take the inside of the white almond. Sometimes green almonds seems to be simply another word for pistachios and sometimes they're mentioned in the ingredients list but have disappeared in the recipe. So I thought about asking here in the forum.

And there is something else: You can find lots of lovely stories about people wandering beneath almond trees (... including lots of green almonds of course), the air full of herbal scents, warm and sunny days ... or something like We had a picnic with green almonds ... These little fruit seem to incorporate some kind of literary quality ...

At least the white almond in the inside tastes somehow, hm, I would say, green? Interesting ....

[Rainey]

You know, I never heard from the almond growers. BUT this morning's LA Time Food Section has an article that mentions that these green almonds (which they say taste a bit like cucumber) are showing up in markets on the East and West coast of the US.

I didn't have time to read the article but if it isn't too late for you, birgit, you could go to LATimes.com and then navigate through to the Food Section.

[Feste]

Birgit, here's the link to that L.A. Times article:

http://www.latimes.com/features/food/la-fo-almond20apr20,1,1311981.story?coll=la-headlines-food&ctrack=1&cset=true

I read it this morning and will now be searching for them at Monterey Market! They seem very versatile in terms of prep.

The article mentions that vendors in the Middle East will rub off the fuzz, soak them in salt water and serve them in a paper cone. There are people here from all over the globe; has anyone tried or even seen this? Should they be very salty like roasted nuts?

[birgit]

thanks a lot, Rainey and Feste, for the link, the article is really great. I hope I'll find some more green almonds, last time I bought them in my favorite turkish shop where they sell very tasty lamb chops, too. the sales people in there told me just to nibble the almonds as they are, with fuzz and all, and I, being courageous (thinking of the proverb which says you'll get an additional day in your life each time you taste something new), found the whole fruit tasting similar to slightly unripe yellow plums (Mirabellen, as they are called here, the tiny species). At least I now can imagine what is meant in wine descriptions where they sometimes say that there are undertones of fresh green almonds