Recently, I bulk-bought ten pounds of raw almonds with other local gardeners in the area. Why would I do that when I live and California and can get them from the local store? Well, they go through a pasteurization process to kill any organisms that might be on them, like samonella. But in doing so, they also can eliminate beneficial enzymes that the raw food movement so greatly follows.
No, the reason I bought these raw almonds was because they came from Italy. Yes, Since the United States doesn’t allow any truly raw almonds, this was my next choice.
So, now I have 10 pounds of raw almonds, and my husband was inquiring about what I was going to do with them…
No problem! I will make almond flour and freeze the rest. Why almond flour? Almonds are high in fiber, protein, monounsaturated fat (heart-healthy fat), Vitamin E and folate.I recently made a diet change to avoid wheat products due to a mild gluten-intolerance. No more pasta, pizza, cakes, cookies, etc. However, there are quite a bit of wonderful almond flour desserts that can be made! Have you heard of macaroons? Almond flour!
Since I have started on this journey, I found most almond flour recipes recommend using blanched almond flour. Thus, I started making blanched almonds (sans skins).
I have to remove the skins from the almond to get blanched (white) almond flour.
I also have ground regular almonds (with their skins) for a darker, almond flour. Both processes went well. However, you need to be careful. Because almonds are high in fat, you can easily make almond butter. All you need are almonds, coffee grinder (or what I use, a Vitmix blender for grains), and a “flour” sifter. However, if you have celiac disease, you need to use equipment (such as the flour sifter) solely for the purpose of gluten-free grains.
Two other websites that were great about making almond flour is at eHow.com and an Indian blog which has great step-by-step photos on what to expect.
I know have 2 quarts of almond flour that I can store in my refrigerator for 2-3 weeks or in the freezer for several months 🙂 Hmmm, I wonder if I should explore making almond milk, too…? Maybe I should have bought more almonds 😉
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Nice story