What is almond and where is it used?

What is almond? How is it used? The answers to these and other questions regarding the mentioned product can be found in this article.

Basic information

What is almond? Almond called a small tree or shrub, which refers to the subgenus Almond and the genus Sliva.

Many people believe that almonds are a common nut. But in fact it is only a stone fruit, which in its shape is very similar to the apricot's drupe.

Botanical description

What is almond and what does it look like? This is a shrub or a small very branchy tree 4-6 meters high. The shoots of this plant are of two types: generative truncated and vegetative elongated.

The leaves of the almond are lanceolate, petiolate and with a long-pointed apex. As for the flowers, they are single, with light pink or white petals, one pestle and numerous stamens. In diameter, they reach 2.5 cm, and also consist of a red or pink corolla and a spheroidal goblet calyx. The flowers of this plant blossom much earlier than the leaves.

Does the almond fruit? The nut that we are used to seeing on the shelves of shops is called almond. It is obtained from the fruits of the plant under consideration, which are a dry, velvety-pubescent and oval single-bark with a leathery green inedible and fleshy pericarp.

When ripening dry, the pericarp is fairly easily separated from the stone. In this case, almonds have the same shape as the fruits themselves. They are covered with small dimples, and also have a groove, a mass of 1-5 g and a length of 2.5-3.5 cm.

Growth

Now you know what almonds are. The primary focus of the formation of this plant is in the Near East, as well as in nearby regions, including in Central Asia and the Mediterranean. In these areas, almonds grew for many centuries BC. Today, the largest plantations of this shrub are in China, the Mediterranean region, Central Asia, the USA (in California in particular), the Crimea, the Kopetdag, the Caucasus and the Western Tien Shan.

This tree is also grown in the warm regions of Slovakia (in the vineyards), the Czech Republic and South Moravia.

Almond grows on gravelly and stony slopes at an altitude of 800-1600 meters above sea level. He prefers soils rich in calcium. It can be found in small groups of 3 or 4 individuals, at a distance of 6-7 meters from each other.

The plant under consideration is very photophilous and drought-resistant, since it has a well-developed root system.

Blossoms almonds (photos of shrubs presented in this article) in March or April, and sometimes even in February. Its fruits ripen in the summer, in June-July. It begins to bear fruit from 4-5 years and for 5 centuries. Almond lives up to 130 years.

Reproduction of this tree occurs with shoots of shoots, seeds or root offspring. It tolerates severe frosts, but with the onset of vegetation suffers quite seriously from even minor spring frosts.

Chemical composition

The taste of almonds, or rather of its nuts, is known to many. The nuclei of the fruits of this plant contain a large number of fatty oils (approximately 40-60%), protein substances (about 30%), mucus, vitamins, coloring components (including carotene, lycopene, carotenoids and others) Oil (about 0.6%). By the way, it is the almond oil that determines the smell of nuts. Its composition includes glycerides of linoleic and oleic acids. Oil, which was obtained from unprocessed fruits, contains a small amount of myristic and linolenic acids.

Seeds of bitter wild bush are poisonous. This is due to the presence in them of the glycoside amygdalin. After the cleavage of this element, benzaldehyde, hydrocyanic acid and glucose are released.

Whole almond kernels do not smell. Only after their cutting, thanks to benzaldehyde, they acquire a specific flavor.

Value

Almond is a plant that is valued as early spring honey. The flowers of this bush give a lot of pollen and nectar. Also considered sapling is used as a kind of drought-resistant rootstock for apricots and peaches. In addition, it is often planted in orchards as a protective soil ornamental plant.

Bones of bitter almonds are inedible, but very often they are obtained from fatty oil. After purification from amygdaline, this product is used for cooking soap.

The cake of fruits is poisonous. Once from it, curative water was prepared, which was used as a sedative, tonic and anesthetic. Also, an essential oil used to create perfume was made from it.

Application in Cooking

How is sweet almond used? Recipes with the use of these nuts are numerous. The seeds of the plant in question are consumed in fresh, roasted and salted form, as well as as spices during the preparation of various pastries, chocolate, sweets, liqueurs and the like.

The shell, left over from almond bones, is used to improve the color and flavor of alcoholic beverages. Also activated carbon is produced from it.

Milk from almonds is a traditional substitute for cow's product. Especially it is in demand among strict vegetarians.

What is cooking?

For several centuries in Spain, almonds were prepared with a vegetable drink called orchata. Also on the basis of almond milk made a delicacy blanmange.

Of the many existing sweets on the almond base, marzipan and praline have become very popular in European countries. Also it should be noted that whole nuts are actively added to chocolate candy in coconut shavings.

In many countries, especially popular and almond cookies. With regard to almond cream, it is indispensable in the preparation of many types of cakes, and is actively used as a filling for sweet rolls.

In Western countries, almond paste is increasingly in demand. It serves as an alternative to high-fat peanut butter.

The place of honor is in Indonesian and Chinese cuisines, in which it is added to a huge number of dishes, including fried poultry, rice, various kinds of meat and so on.

Application in medicine

What is useful in modern medicine for almonds? The reviews claim that this is an excellent raw material, which is used to produce fatty oils and seeds. The latter are actively used to create a special emulsion. As for the cake, which was unofficially called "almond bran", it is used as a medical-cosmetic means, as well as for obtaining bitter almond water.

It should also be noted that oil is prepared from the seeds of the plant by cold or hot pressing. It is used not only in food, but also in the pharmaceutical and perfume industries. This product serves as a kind of camphor dissolvent for injection preparations, as well as a basis for cosmetic and therapeutic ointments. Thanks to this supplement, creams and other products soften the skin well and have an anti-inflammatory effect.

Also, almond oil can be prescribed inside, including children. It is often used as a laxative. As for the emulsion, it exhibits enveloping and emollient properties.

One can not help saying that sweet almond kernels have been used in folk medicine for such painful conditions as anemia, bronchial asthma, diabetes mellitus, insomnia and migraines since ancient times. They are also highly effective as an antitussive for cramps. In addition, almond oil is often consumed inside as a soothing drug in heart diseases, as a remedy that increases appetite well, as an anti-inflammatory drug in diseases of the throat, pneumonia and flatulence, and also externally - from decubitus.