Pickled Green Almonds and Salted Green Almonds

For the most part, I like growing nut trees.  They're easy to care for and pretty do what they are supposed to do without much help from me.   They aren't 'foraged food', but there is a certain aspect of 'vintage food' in them.  Fortunately, I have several sweet almond trees in my yard.  Unfortunately, I've never eaten a ripe almond from them.  Why?  Squirrels.  By the time the almonds are ripe, there aren't any left.

The almond trees are located farther away from the house from my other nut trees.  Farther away from the dogs normal patrol route.  So the squirrels steal with impunity.  They will clean out my tree, and do a better job than any mechanical harvester can do.  When I walked near the tree, a squirrel would sit in the branches, a green nut clamped in his paws and bark at me.

And even though I routinely remove squirrels from the population, within a day or two, another replacement moves in to take over the territory.

I was talking to a neighbor early one spring, and he surprised me by reaching up and picking a fuzzy green almond and popping it into his mouth.  When I expressed a 'blink-blink' reaction, he told me that in his culture (he's Palestinian), green almonds are a treat.

So, I tried one.   It was crunchy and fuzzy and bland.  The drupe inside (what grows up to be what we call the 'nut') hadn't formed yet and there was a sort of clear jelly in it's place.   It was not unpleasant, but at the same time it wasn't entirely pleasant, either.   'Salt', my neighbor said, 'They are better with salt'.  So I ran up to the house and brought a shaker of sea salt back to the tree.  Frankly, I didn't think the salt made much difference.  It was still just a crunchy, fuzzy green thing.  I suppose it's one of those things that you just have to be raised with to appreciate.

I was disappointed because I hoped to find something to do with my almonds prior to their being devoured by the squirrels.

Then I noticed everyone doing things with unripe black walnuts.  Pascal pickles green black walnuts and Hank makes nocino (a liqueur made from the unripe walnuts), and I wondered 'What can I do the with green almonds?'

My first experiment pickling them, didn't go well.  I soaked them same way green walnuts are soaked for a couple of weeks. It just didn't work. I suppose because the green almonds don't have the load of tannins that the walnuts do.

So then I just pickled them like I would any vegetable.  I tried a batch with sweet spices (rice vinegar, cinnamon, cloves and the like) and a more savory blend (white vinegar, chilis, bay and garlic).   Both were a hit.  The fuzz disappears, the crunch gets a bit softer.  They pair nicely with a good cheese and a cracker or in an antipasto. 

You lose, Squirrels.