Remembering Almond Trees

I have wonderful memories of our almond trees. Sometimes I feel very special, because I grew up in a semi-rural area (despite being in the suburb of a city), post-war, when we grew much of our own food – at least fruit and vegetables.  We were on the fringes 0f suburbia with wide open spaces across the road and up the nearby hills.  Going to school was a walk of around 2 kms, much of it through bushland.  There were no school buses, and our mothers didn’t drive cars.

Almonds from Supermarket and Pharmacy.

In our back-yard, my parents grew fruit trees and vegetables.  Each school summer holidays my sister and I would help with the harvesting.  There were plums, apricots, peaches, strawberries, loganberries, apples, oranges and lemons growing and two types of almonds.

The area was well known at the time for almond growing, as were other areas around Adelaide.  One road, near our school was called Trott Grove, and almond trees grew on both sides of the road.

Harvesting Almonds

We loved our almonds. We grew two different types – one with a hard shell and one with a softer shell, which made it easier to get the nut out and into our mouths!!

In our back yard, the way to harvest them was to pick them or whack them with a long pole sending them to the ground.  The harvesters as shown in the video came many years later.  They certainly required hard physical labour to get them off the tree.

Eating Almonds

I hadn’t eaten any for manyu long years – in part because they were expensive and one didn’t see them much in the supermarket.  But things have changed.  They seem to be in many shops/supermarkets these days and over the past few weeks, I have indulged in a number of packets.  I eat them straight from the packet.  Now that I have settled in the new house-sit, I will endeavour to cook with them, starting with the roasting below.

Cooking with Almonds

Sometimes I think back to those days when we did things that many children in this modern age, would not experience.  Not many city children would experience growing and picking fruit, vegetables and nuts like I did.

Did you have almond trees growing in your back yard?

Yum – great nuts to eat and healthy too.