In season - green almonds

I found green almonds for sale this week at Irvine's Wholesome Choice, a great Persian owned supermarket with an excellent produce section. Not as extensive and exotic as the Berkeley Bowl or Austin's Central Market, but far better than most in Orange County. If you want to play the "my supermarket can beat up your supermarket" game, we'll have to step outside...

Having started phase one of the South Beach diet after last weekend's carb orgy at the Songkran festival, Wholesome Choice provided all the veggies we've been eating this week at the Salt household. In addition to the stores in our area that serve the Persian and Arab populations, I suspect you'll find green almonds for a few more weeks at the better farmer's markets around these parts. Here's a link to farmer's markets in the Los Angeles area, courtesy of the LA Times (free registration required).

The Persian recipes I've seen for green almonds have included fruit and or sugars, so I'm afraid those are out. Perhaps I'll simply boil them and sautee with oil, garlic, and parsley, or something along those lines. To be truthful, I bought these cool looking, fuzzy little critters without knowing exactly what to do with them, but who's not guilty of that every now and then? If you have any carb-free recipes, please leave me a note.

[Update: Regina Schrambling wrote this story for the LA Times about almonds, and talks about San Francisco chef's Judy Rodgers role in popularizing green almonds. Free registration to the LA Times is required.]

Wholesome Choice
18040 Culver Dr
Irvine, CA
949-551-4111