Blanch 'em, flake 'em, chop 'em, ground 'em, eat 'em. Savoury or sweet, almonds are always a treat.
Moroccans like them in stews, Indians in curries, South Africans in bobotie, Europeans in macaroons, and the Brits in baking, while your gran likes them just sugared. It's no surprise, then, that the almond – a versatile, fragrant nut – is king.
You can blanch them, halve them, flake them, smoke them, chop them, ground them. If you toast them it intensifies the flavour and gives the nuts more colour and bite. The French have a specific name for a dish with almonds – 'amandine' dishes are served with toasted blanched almonds, such as this varitation of the classic trout amandine.
Coming top of the taste league is one thing, but almonds are also the most nutritionally dense nut; a handful contains 160 calories, is a great source of vitamin E, magnesium and fibre, and is rich in protein, potassium, calcium and monounsaturated fat (the good stuff). Eating an ounce a day lowers a person's cholesterol by at least 4%. What's more, these nuts may help you to maintain, and even lose, weight. For peanut allergy sufferers, sweet almonds can also be used to make almond butter.
There are two types of almonds; we eat and cook with the sweet variety. The bitter type can be consumed but must be processed first; raw they contain fatal amounts of prussic acid.