1. Throughout history, almonds have maintained religious, ethnic and social significance.
2. Explorers consumed almonds while traveling the "Silk Road" between Asia and the Mediterranean. Before long, almond trees flourished in the Mediterranean region to include such areas as Spain, Italy, Morocco, Greece and Israel.
3. During Roman times, almonds were considered a fertility charm, and newlyweds would be showered with almonds during weddings. There have been documented findings that nutmeats and dried fruits were treated as delicacies of this time, because the cultivation of these foods was not as prevalent as today. Imagine the value of something as small as a nut being a cherished gift for so many centuries!
4. The almond tree was brought to California from Spain in the mid-1700's by the Franciscan Padres. The moist, cool weather of the coastal missions, however, did not provide optimum growing conditions. It wasn't until the following century that trees were successfully planted inland.
5. By the 1870's, research and cross-breeding had developed several of today's prominent almond varieties. By the turn of the 20th century, the almond industry was firmly established in the Sacramento and San Joaquin areas of California's great Central Valley.
6. In the past 20 years, California's almond yield has doubled. More than a half million acres in the lush San Joaquin and Sacramento valleys are under almond cultivation, stretching 400 miles between Bakersfield and Red Bluff, California. The modern industry of today reveals a different look at almonds. Now focused on highly advanced methods of production sorting, hulling and processing, the industry still maintains its down to earth goodness invoked by this simple nut.
7. The world's largest almond factory is in Sacramento, California. It processes 2 million pounds of almonds a day.
8. It takes 1000 pounds of almonds to make 1 pint of almond oil.
9. The Jordan almond is a large plump variety of almond from Malaga, Spain, considered to be the finest cultivated almond. The are frequently sold with a hard colored sugar coating, or salted.
10. Almonds are the most nutrient-dense tree nut. One ounce of almonds (20-25 almonds) contains 160 calories and only 1 gram of saturated fat and no cholesterol. Almonds are also an excellent source of vitamin E and magnesium, and a good source of protein and potassium.