Old Blog: Kitchen: Green Almonds on Shiso Leaves

A vendor at the Farmer's Market in Los Angeles was selling unripe young green almonds, and I asked him what I do with them. "Eat them whole," he said. I put the almond in my mouth, and my mouth felt the fur-like texture of the green flesh on my tongue. I bit down, and the taste was somewhat bitter. I decided to buy a small handful, and do some research to see what these are used for. If nothing else, they looked very interesting.

If you've never seen an almond in its natural form, it is a fruit that grows from a tree and is encased in green fuzzy flesh. Remove the flesh, and the nut inside looks very much like an apricot pit or a peach pit, but a little smoother. In fact, almonds are in the same family as stone fruits. Crack the nutshell, and the kernel inside is the edible almond part that most people are familiar with.

After some searching on the Internet, I learned that green almonds are made in a paste and used on pastries, are a Middle Eastern delicacy, are a garnish for foie gras, and are used in Moroccan stews.

I decided to use the green almonds for my second entry of Foodography 4: Green, and added some shiso leaves as a garnish. Shiso leaves are a Japanese herb - the leaves are often used as a garnish with sushi, but most people don't realize that they are edible and are quite tasty wrapped around a rice ball or a piece of sashimi. My friend Kim apparently makes pesto from shiso leaves, and I need to get her recipe.

The combination of green almonds and green shiso leaves made for an interesting still life for Foodography 4: Green!

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