California Almonds
California in the western US has become the single largest producer of almonds since their introduction to the state in the mid 1700s; almonds now serve as California's seventh largest food export.
Almonds are California's largest tree nut crop in total dollar value and acreage. They rank as the largest U.S. horticultural export. Approximately 6,000 almond growers produce nearly 100 percent of the commercial domestic supply and more than 80 percent of worldwide production. Nearly 80 countries import California almonds. The United States is by far the largest market for almonds, overseas, Spain is the largest market for almonds. Other major importers include Germany, The Netherlands, Japan, France, the United Kingdom, Canada, India, China and Spain. The Pacific Rim nations are a rapidly growing market for California almonds.
In the mid-1700s, Franciscan Padres planted almond trees to grace their missions along El Camino Real (The Royal Road), which stretched along the California coast from present-day San Diego to Sonoma. But the cool, wet weather of the coast hindered development of almonds as an annual crop. It wasn’t until settlers began moving further inland that they discovered almonds flourished in the Mediterranean-like climate for which central California has become famous. Almond orchards began to prosper in the Sacramento and San Joaquin areas of the state’s Central Valley. By the 1880s, research and crossbreeding had produced several of today’s prominent almond varieties. And by the turn of the century, the California almond industry was firmly established.
Today, the sweet almond variety grows in the Central Valley. Delicate and slightly sweet in flavor, sweet almonds are readily available in supermarkets. California is the only place in North America that grows almonds commercially. A $2 billion industry, more than 6,000 growers devote an estimated 530,000 acres in the Central Valley to almonds — California’s largest tree nut crop — in a stretch of land extending from below Bakersfield in the south to Red Bluff in the north. In fact, this region produces 75 percent of the world’s almond supply, and virtually 100 percent of the United States’. California almonds are exported to more than 80 countries.
Almonds the most nutrient-dense tree-nut. One ounce of almonds (about 23) contains 160 calories and only 1 gram of saturated fat. The same handful is also an excellent source of vitamin E and magnesium, a good source of protein and potassium and has no cholesterol.
-Courtesy of Almonds Are In |
