almonds, revisited

You might remember from a few posts ago that the almond trees were blossoming. Well, now as spring has progressed, the almond trees have young almonds on them. They're edible, although to be honest a little strange. The green fuzz on the photo below is the outer layer of the fruit of which the almond is the pit (like a peach pit). This layer is removed before what we think of as whole almonds are sold. The white layer in the middle (in the photo) is what develops into what we know as the shell, and inside of that is a clear jelly, which is the immature nut. My vegetable guy told me to wash them, salt them, and eat them, fuzz included. Not bad, but not great either. They don't really taste like almonds. I'm told in three weeks or so they'll start to have a slight amaretto flavor and the fuzz will no longer be edible. A few weeks after that the shell matures, finally followed by the nut.

I'll keep you posted if any of those stages turn out to be wonderful.