Intrigued by green almonds? Get them as soon as you can. This hyper-seasonal California ingredient only shows up at farmers markets for a few weeks each spring.
What exactly are they?
Green almonds are drupes and are closely related to apricots and peaches. Like those stone fruits, they'll develop a pit but when it comes to almonds, we eat the kernel or seed. With peaches and apricots, we eat their sweet flesh.
"At this point, when they're pretty young, you can eat the whole thing," says Justin Siemens of Fat Uncle Farms in Wasco. "Over the next few weeks, they'll develop and dry out, and you won't be able to eat the whole thing but you can still crack them open and eat the kernel."
They're soft, fuzzy, and sage green with a tart, bitter flavor profile. If you eat the whole thing, it's crunchy but inside, the kernel is not tart at all. In fact, it has a soft, almost jelly-like consistency, similar to a cucumber. "It's a totally different almond experience," Siemens says. As the season progresses, the outer fruit around the almond will separate and dry out into a husk that either falls off or gets removed during harvest. So if you want green almonds, they'll only be available for another three to four weeks.
Some people blanche them, slice them into salads or pickle them. Misha Sesar and Cody Ma of Iranian restaurant Azizam, which started as a pop-up and opened last month as a brick-and-mortar spot in Silver Lake, both grew up with seasonal green almonds in their homes. "You knew it was the height of spring when you would come home and there was this little bowl of green almonds," Ma says.
His family would eat them as is, maybe with a sprinkle of salt or a squeeze of lemon. Ma's grandma occasionally used them in a stew with mint, parsley, lemon juice, and lamb or beef. Since Azizam just opened in its new digs, you won't see any dishes with green almonds this year but you might find them on next year's spring menu.