  CALIFORNIA ALMONDS
Almond farming in California not only creates delicious food for Americans, it delivers the same consistent quality throughout the world! The California almond is the almond of choice around the world!
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 75 percent of worldwide production. Nearly 80 countries import California almonds. The United States is by far the largest market for almonds, overseas, Germany is the largest market for almonds, consuming about 16 percent of the export crop, followed by Spain at about 15 percent. Other major importers include the Netherlands, Japan, France, the United Kingdom, Canada, India, China and Spain. The Pacific Rim nations are a rapidly growing market for California almonds.
 Bloom To Market
Growing almonds is a busy, year round business in California. The Central Valley’s almond bloom in late February and early March is a highlight for both residents and tourists — with soft, pale pink flowers decorating more than half a million acres. After that, almond growers depend on the right weather . . .
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 California Almond
Almond farming in California not only creates delicious food for Americans, it delivers the same consistent quality throughout the world! The California almond is the almond of choice around the world!
Almonds are California's largest tree nut crop in . . .
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Fun Facts About Almonds
Throughout history, almonds have maintained religious, ethnic and social significance. The Bible's book of Numbers tells of Aaron's rod that blossomed and bore almonds, using them as a symbol to represent the divine approval of Aaron by God
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.
The Romans showered newlyweds with almonds as a fertility charm. 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!
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.
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.
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.
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