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www.almondfarm.net Click here for “Carobfarm”
Completely natural
hardshell almonds grown with no genetic intervention or chemicals on the
slopes of Datça peninsula Natural
Reserve facing the
Mediterranean/Aegean,
south-west corner of Turkey/Anatolia
(PLEASE NOTE:
We are updating
our web site
and some links
will not work
for a few more
days - apologies)
(with all the links on this and linked pages, please use
“back” or “return”
on your browser to go back – some
links simply move you up/down on the pages)
Almond varieties, Datça peninsula,
Hardshell almonds, Cracking
for fresh goodness
Health Benefits, Ordering, Distributors invited, Datca.com, visit Carobfarm
Almonds, together with other tree
nuts such as walnuts, hazelnuts are
nature’s gifts for healthy
living while at the same
time being tasty and
highly enjoyable in many different ways. Our
specialty is traditional
varieties of Mediterranean
hardshell almonds that have been grown on the shores of
the Med for
centuries – completely naturally grown with no chemicals, genetic
intervention not even watered except by
the abundant winter/spring Mediterranean rains. Unfortunately, because of
so called modern trends focusing on
cosmetic aspects of shape,
uniformity of size, yields per tree/acre, etc.,
these wonderful hardshell almonds
are now quite
rare. Almost all the unshelled
almonds that you would
typically purchase are from
softshell almonds, great
majority from
There are also very significant recent developments on
the health benefits of almonds,
especially if eaten fresh out of their shells. During the
last decade or so,
there is increasing body of evidence on the
preventive and beneficial health
effects of almonds
against prostate cancer
(some other nuts have also been shown
to have similar beneficial
effects, to a lesser degree). A
Google search for ‘almond’ and “prostate cancer”
yields (June 2007) more than
seventy five thousand hits.
Almonds are classified among “world’s
healthiest foods”, click here to see details.
There are many types of
almonds but the
Mediterranean varieties and
especially “NURLU” from the Datça peninsula are considered by
many as the best
in natural taste.
California now produces the
largest amount of
almonds by far (almost
all softshell) through extensive
genetic improvements that
give very attractive looking almonds,
unfortunately in many cases
having “peanut”ty type of
taste. This can be verified
readily by side-by-side, simultaneous
tasting of traditional
Mediterranean almonds which we
provide with Californian
ones (crumble slightly so that
the shapes do not bias the results). We
have done this with many groups over the years and
the hard-shell NURLU always
comes out best in flavour. The Datça
almonds that you can obtain through this web site are all
this
NURLU hardshell type.
They are all from mature
trees at least
15 years old,
no genetic modification of any sort,
no chemical products or fertilizers. While providing higher yields softshell
almonds are much more vulnerable to pest and diseases
and therefore require intensive use of chemicals, plant protection systems (Ref:
Nut Sector paper below). NURLU almonds can be stored in-shell for many years and when cracked are still
wonderful (if you visit us we will give you examples from past years).
We only grow and
produce these NURLU hardshell almonds
whose variety origins can be traced back
thousands of years. They
are native to
this area of
Eastern Mediterranean/
Anatolia where, it is generally accepted
by botanic historians, that
almond trees originated.
Datça peninsula is
a large National Reserve located in the south west
corner of Anatolia (Turkey)
has been producing
almonds for thousands
of years. The peninsula has more than a million almond trees,
great majority are
mature trees. Because Turkey is not a member of the
European Union (and hence CAP)
there is no incentive for almond farmers to replace mature trees with many new
plantings (6-10 in the same space as an old tree)
to obtain more subsidies which
are generally based on number of trees (similar to what has happened with olive
trees). The ages old tradition of
planting at least
one (more if there is available land) of
an almond tree
when a girl
is born to
cover the dowry
at marriage time
has been practised for
centuries and is still
practised. The Mugla
province where Datça
is located produces
a large portion of the of the almonds produced in Turkey and
are by far the most valued. Because they are produced in traditional manner
the yields are
low (typically only ~
1/10 of a comparable
Californian tree and ~
1/4 of
a Spanish one).
In fact per acre
yields are even
much lower because
the traditional method
of planting leaves
large areas around
each tree. In our orchards typical distances
between trees is of the order of
10-15 meters. Overall
the per acre
yields are less than
5 % of those
in California. All these
contribute to the exceptional taste of
our almonds, naturally
grown with no
genetic intervention or
chemical fertilizers. They must be experienced to
appreciate the differences.
Almond tree blossoms
are the first of the season, late
February and March. The delicate
white flowers last
a short time
and the harvest
is highly dependent on the
weather during this flowering
period. In May/June
baby almonds (çağla, pronounced
“chala”) are collected by
thinning heavily bunched
parts of the trees. They are a
very nice delicacy, eaten
with salt and
make an excellent
accompaniment to whisky, gin, wine, tequila.
Almond harvest for
the natural, indigenous varieties that we grow, have fluctuated greatly due
to weather conditions, in the past
few years. Almonds are the first trees to flower in the Med with their delicate mostly
white flowers (start
around early February in
Datça peninsula) and therefore
can be vulnerable. 2005 harvest
was poor, 2006
somewhat better, We do not use
any chemicals, no watering,
and use only local
natural fertilizers so the
harvest is completely at the
mercy of nature. The usual
abundant Med spring rains
have been less
so and therefore 2007 is also not so good. However,
the quantity of almonds produced
varies but the
quality of the almonds is
always excellent and in fact seems to be a bit better in low harvest
years. For more technical
information on world
almond production
please click here refs or see below.
Datça peninsula has only
a few settlements/villages with
Datça town being
the main one (population
~5000). The total indigenous population of the peninsula
is about
double that with
5000 distributed over a dozen
or so villages/settlements. The peninsula has the famous ancient city of
Cnidus/Knidos (Cnide) at
the end where
prominent geographer STRABON
and the famous sculptor
PRAXITELES (both ~4th
century BC, the latter of
“Aphrodite” fame), lived and
worked. Strabon’s famous
declaration carved in marble
2400 years ago
states “Gods place their
subjects whom they wish to live long on the Datça
peninsula” and may be seen
at Knidos. Although
he was probably
referring to the
extraordinarily good weather
conditions and excellent local produce,
we also know to-day that
many locals are
above 90 years
old, and “prostate
cancer” is not
known as a cause of
death. Local almonds are consumed continuously and
also used in
various dishes.
The hardshell almonds you can order through this web-site are
all of the local NURLU variety.
In their perfectly formed,
strong shells they will easily
keep for many years if stored in a dry
and dark place
that stays cool
most of the time (e.g. any cool
location, dry, location of a
house). The best way to consume
them is cracking them as you need them, eating
them within at most a few
days. Also, eating
them right out of the shell is considered to be the healthiest, although,
even when used in cooking the magical almonds retain many
health benefits (please see the Google
search results mentioned above).
Please click here for hints about
how best to crack almonds.
Unfortunately many other almond
producers are opting for easy to
grow, softshell almond
varieties which make cracking
easier, volume/weight ratios are
lower, etc. It would not be wrong to estimate that
more than 95 % of the
almonds that you would typically buy unshelled
are from softshell
almonds. We do not grow nor
provide softshell almonds.
September/October of each
year, that years
new crop hardshell/Nurlu almonds become available. If you wish to enjoy the Med
during those months you are
welcome to visit us and if you wish, watch or participate in, almond harvesting in
our beautiful orchards, many with spectacular views of the Med &
Aegean (see www.medvillas.com) . Prior to September we ship
previous year’s crop. As mentioned
previously hardshell almonds
can be easily stored for
many years in
their shells, in
dry, relatively cool and dark
locations. In fact many
locals store their
shelled produce in
basements and if
an order is
received (usually for
unshelled almonds from
chocolate, pastry, …, manufacturers) the
owner family and neighbours start
a “cracking campaign”, day and
night, for as much of their stock as
required for shipment.
Many hundreds of kilos of
unshelled almonds can thus be
made ready in just a
few days. If you visit
us in Datça during September
and October to
experience these unique
events. There have been
attempts to mechanize
this “cracking” (as
practised in USA &
more recently in Spain)
but Datça growers
are fortunately happy
with their age
old traditions and
we aim to keep it that way -
The machinery for
cracking hardshell almonds without
damaging the kernels
is highly complex
and expensive, approaching
one million dollar
figures because of the
extreme strength of the almond
shell. This is
also another reason which makes
Soft-shell almonds more attractive for commercial reasons (when have you seen Soft-shell almonds being sold in their shell
? If you do, just compare them with the NURLU
shells and the difference will be
instantly evident).
We can also
ship the delicate Baby
(also called Milk) almonds
in May/June (çağla)
by airplane. They are collected manually to thin bunches which generally aids the remaining almonds to mature
better. However, in all
honesty, they have to be
eaten off the
tree within at
most 48 hours
or so, transportation of
any sort, no matter
how well done
diminishes their delicate
texture and taste.
Notwithstanding this, if you
can not make it to
Datça in May/June
and wish to
enjoy this unique delicacy under
somewhat less than ideal conditions
we will airmail
some to you
at cost.
We also can
assign a specific mature tree to
you (person, family, company/
organisation), identified clearly in our orchards, and
every year you will receive almonds
from your tree, at
cost, suitably packaged
with a photo of
your tree and
name. You will be most welcome
to visit it any time (we
recommend March for flowers,
end April/may for
çağlas and Sept/October for harvesting). Please inquire details
from Datca@almondfarm.net
You may order our hardshell almonds
in 1 Kg,
2 Kg, 5 Kg.
gift sacks made of
locally hand woven natural
cotton material sent
in boxes. Other amounts, including large
bulk orders can also
be made. We only
provide hardshell (Datça-Nurlu variety) almonds
from our own
orchards, in shell,
hand picked and
selected. They can be stored
many months and
even years in
their shells in
dry, relatively cool (~20
deg C or
lower) storage conditions.
We can also provide
unshelled almonds, cracked
to order just prior to
shipping. With each such order you will
also receive some
shelled samples of the
almonds which you may crack as
desired. In fact, you can also plant
these in a pot by cracking them
carefully to open slightly but not
completely and just
push them into a mixture of good
earth about 10
cms down. In about one
month you will start seeing
the shoots. After
about a year or two it will become well over
30-40 cms and you can plant them in a nice
protected, warm, corner of you garden (we assume your winters are mild, temperature
never going below freezing, a few degrees below for short periods is
usually OK).
We invite distributors, organic/biological
product sellers interested in
marketing our hardshell almonds to contact us at Datca@almondfarm.net and/or
using the information provided
below.
In shell NURLU
almonds (all in €)
|
Gift sacks |
1-3 |
4-9 |
10
- 20 |
Other quantities |
|
1 Kg |
7
€ |
7.5
€ |
8
€ |
Please
inquire |
|
2 Kg |
6.5
€ |
6
€ |
5.5
€ |
“ |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Please
inquire for other custom sizes/packaging |
|
|||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Prices are
for one sack of
given size in
the quantities indicated |
||||
|
Please
note that not
all sizes are possible for each country of destination. |
||||
|
Other formats
may be possible please inquire
Datca@almondfarm.net |
||||
Unshelled to
order NURLU almonds
(+ in-shell
samples which may also be
planted)
|
Gift sacks |
1 |
2-5 |
>5 |
|
500 gr net + 20 in-shell samples (shipping weight
~ 0.9 Kg) |
12 |
11 |
Please inquire |
|
1 Kg net +
50 in-shell samples (shipping weight ~
1.8 Kg) |
18 |
16 |
Please inquire |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Please inquire
for other custom sizes/packaging |
|||
|
|
|||
|
Prices are
for one sack of
given size in
the quantities indicated |
|||
|
Please note that not all sizes are possible for each country of destination. |
|||
|
Other formats
may be possible please inquire
Datca@almondfarm.net |
|||
Prices
are for each
gift sack, postage/shipping extra (depends on
destination. Please inquire,
we always make
use of the
most cost-efficient means).
Larger amounts, including
bulk sacks of
10, 20 Kgs
can also be
provided if available,
please consult us at Datca@almondfarm.net .
Also we recommend that you inquire about
local customs
requirements. For small amounts they are usually not restrictive
but still need to be checked if you do not wish to be surprised (especially for our USA
& Canada customers).
Payments can be made by all major credit cards through PayPal.com or to Euro/€, USD/$ and TL bank accounts numbers that we will provide.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
AlmondFarm-Yavuz-Somer
Balçıkhisar, Andızlı yol 19
İskele, DATÇA
Muğla, 48900
TÜRKİYE/Turkey Tel:
90 532 211 3858 or 252 712 3625 Fax:90
or in
Almondfarm-E. Yavuz
Theresiastraat 105B
Den-Haag 2593 AD
Tel:
31 626 134 257
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Some useful reference information on “tree nuts” in general and almonds in particular
World’s healthiest foods – Almonds ( .mht file from
Internet)
Almond
production development
in Turkey (ab. Title)
The
US and World Situation: Tree Nuts
(USDA)
EU Staff Paper Analysis of Nut sector (2002)
If you have any
comments,
recommendations about this
site please send them
to Datca@almondfarm.net