AHL-munds

With class breaks being so short, and cafeteria lines so long, I find it easier to bring a snack than buy one. Right now, I’m making no-bake granola bars that use almond flour. I chose the almond because I think it’s a real funny sounding word, and I associate it with a video of a man not knowing how to read labels (link in the references).

 

Pixabay License

Almonds were first domesticated by humans from 3000-2500 BCE in countries to the East of the Mediterranian such as Syria and Lebanon. One of the reasons it may have been so easy to domesticate was it did not require methods such as grafting to continue certain plants.

Today, almonds are typically eaten raw, blanched, or roasted. Some ingestion methods include:

  • A handful thrown into the mouth with reckless abandon
  • ground up into a flour for a more nutrient base for assorted cooked goods (most notably, the French Macaron. Not the President)
  • ground up with water and strained to make lactose-free almond “milk” (preferrable to skim milk, trounced by soy milk in my books)

Almonds Today

As of 2017, about 1 to 1.5 million metric tonnes of almonds are produced annually. They are grown around the 30-45N longitude, with 80% of trees being grown in California.

The almond serves as a symbol in Judeo-Christian religions, with holy figures being framed in an almond-shaped outline called a mandorla. In Israel and Syria, the almond tree is one of the first to flower, and its shape was an inspiration for the menorah.

 

Other Almond Facts

Almonds contain trace amounts of cyanide that can cause poisoning if too many are eaten. You may ask ‘how many is too many?’. That depends on what type you eat. If you’re eating sweet almonds (which you probably are if you’re buying them), you’d need to eat 1.5kg of almonds to get cyanide poisoning. You’d more than likely get physically sick before you got poisoned. However, if you eat bitter almonds (I’m sure the difference is staggering), as few as 50 is enough to cause effects.

Almonds are technically part of the peach family. If you ever take botany, you’ll find that most of what you call berries, fruits, and nuts are not necessarily so. The banana is a berry; the strawberry is not. I’m sorry to tell you this.

Almond, New World Encyclopedia; https://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Almond [Accessed Jan 20, 2020] Can You Get Cyanide Poisoning From Eating Almonds?, Livestrong; https://www.livestrong.com/article/494578-can-almonds-cause-cyanide-poisoning/ [Accessed Jan 20, 2020] Rooster Teeth Animated Adventures - Chris Stories, YouTube; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rs8K5SVVMmc