Pass the Salt

Fresh and Dried Almonds

I have just discovered the taste of green almonds. I didn’t know you could eat them fresh off the tree. I’d only ever had the mature dried nuts – usually from a packet and sometimes after cracking open the hard pockmarked shells that enclose them.

There are hardly any almonds grown commercially in New Zealand so it’s perhaps not surprising I’d never seen them on the branch. But at Riverina, Graham Farnell and Gill Smith’s orchard in Marlborough, the trees were loaded. I had just been saying it was a shame I was too early for the harvest when Graham pulled some of the green fuzzy fruit off a tree and told me how nice the young nuts tasted.

He took one and bit through its furry outer jacket to show me the kernel inside. It had a thin rubbery skin which slipped off easily to reveal a half formed almond. Part gel and part nut, it had a fresh crisp texture and a sweet milky taste. The almond flavour was subtle and I wasn’t sure what you’d do with them but I took a few home with me.

I’ve since read they’re a seasonal treat in the Middle East where they’re eaten, jackets and all, dipped in salt.

Gill says this is how her free range turkeys eat them in the orchard. Not with the salt, obviously, but scoffed down whole. Apparently, you can see the bulge travelling down their necks as they gobble – rather like a snake swallowing an egg. You’d think they’d be kept away from the trees but they only get the low hanging fruit and in any case, it adds to the taste of the turkeys. You could say they come pre-stuffed.

Riverina almonds are sold at the Blenheim Farmers’ Market – dried, roasted, salted, seasoned or smoked. Graham usually decorates his stall with a small branch of green fruit so you can see how the nuts are grown. If you get a chance to visit the market this summer ask him to cut one open. It’s a revelation.