In Case You Were Curious…About Almonds
February 16, 2018
The Bottom Line: A few questions and answers about almonds.
The Full Story:
- Q: In Chico, CA the number one agricultural product is the almond. What type of plant do almonds grow on?A: Almonds grow on trees, which have beautiful white and pink flowers in the spring. When the flowers drop their petals it looks like snow.
- Q: All almonds have a hard shell that must be cracked with a nutcracker.A: In-shell almonds that you see in the store have a hard shell but the majority of almonds grown have a soft shell that you can remove with your fingers.
- Q: To get almonds off the plant you just shake it and let the almonds fall on the ground.A: In the past trees were actually hit with rubber mallets to remove the nuts which were dropped onto tarps. Now a shaker machine grabs the tree and shakes the nuts onto the ground. Other machines sweep and pick up the almonds.
- Q: When growing almonds why do you always have more than one variety in the orchard?A: Almonds must be cross pollinated by another variety.. Almonds must be cross pollinated. You would have the major variety in every other row with the pollinators in the other rows. Our orchard has 50% of one variety and 50% of three others.
- Q: Where are the majority of almonds in the world grown?A: Most of the world's almonds are grown in California's northern and southern central valleys.