Very easy and a lot of fun – Just follow these steps and soon it will
become second nature
Hold the almond as shown on
a hard surface with the
rounded edge below (“sharp”ish
edge facing up)
First tap to ensure that the almond is vertical (otherwise when you hit to crack
it might tilt over) and
then progressively hit
firmly/strongly to crack.
You will be tempted to let go of
the almond as you hit but this should not be necessary if you hit with just the
right force. All this
might seem difficult but it is not, after a few
almonds you will easily
get the hang of
it and enjoy cracking.
Cracked almond – note that the shell is now in two pieces but substantially intact - simply open the two halves and your almond is there
Enjoy. Note how solid and well formed the shell is. This is the secret of Nurlu
Hardshell almonds – If you were
to look at the shell of a softshell
almond (95+ % of the unshelled almonds you buy) you would find crumbly
loosely woven structure easily broken just by pressing (the
coin is a 1 Euro/€ coin)
Some other hints :
Complete hardshell almonds can be
painted with almost any kind of paint including transparent varnish
to bring out the beautiful texture. They can also be drilled with wood drills
and made into
ornaments, key chains,
… etc.
The shells have
many uses. You can
place nicely cracked
complete half shells on
a thin layer (3-4 mms) of
transparent polyester inside
down to make
beautiful decorative objects.
You can also smash them into smaller pieces, mix
with polyester or
epoxy resins to
make unique objects.
If you are into BBQs, simply
throw a handful
over the fire
just before starting
the grilling, wait
for the flames
to subside (shells
will become embers)
and start cooking.
Apricots:
Most apricots also have
edible, almond like
seeds which are commonly called stones. Put
these aside when
you consume them
and let them
dry for a
few days. Some varieties
are quite bitter
(like the bitter almonds used
for Amaretto) so
we suggest you crack
one and taste
before you start saving the stones.
Below is the
photo of an
apricot stone and
a cracked one, again
with a 1 Euro/€ coin
for size reference.
This one happened to have “twins”
and was reasonably
tasty but not like
an almond, just
nutty.
Apricot stones
Comments on this site are welcome
Datca@almondfarm.net
You are welcome to use
these images as
is and also link to
these pages but
please give credit
to www.almondfarm.net and/or
provide links to
the same.