Do you remember the days when people had bowls of shelled nuts on their coffee tables, along
Cracking nuts was a great project, as it took some time, thus preventing eating too many nuts in a single sitting. I think – though I could be wrong – the days of shelled nuts on coffee tables is long since over. Progress and a constant need for convenience has brought us bags of nuts already shelled. However, from time to time, shelled nuts can be really cheap. I mean, really cheap!
Over the summer, I picked up a one pound bag of shelled almonds on sale for $.99 thinking it would be a cost-effective way to get my almonds. What I didn’t think about, of course, is that I would eventually have to shell them. Minor oversight. Considering it is now November, you can say I didn’t get right on that.
Desperate for almonds over the weekend (okay, desperate may be an overstatement), I broke out the nutcracker and went to work. I am not crazy about digging broken pieces of nuts out of shells, so I thought I’d share my technique for shelling them that consistently delivers a whole almond.
1. Take the subject almond, and flip it onto the side that has a noticeable “seam.” You’ll see there is a side that is sort of rounded over, and a side that sort of looks like a seam. You want the side with the seam to be pointing up.
2. Place the almond in the cracker with the fat end of the nut (I’d call this the top) in the nut cracker. The nut is mostly in the lower part of the shell, so you want to crack it at the top. This nutcracker has two different areas based on the size of the nut – I used the smaller portion for this.
3. Press hard on the handles to put pressure on the top of the nut. Continue to press until you feel you have sufficiently opened the almond’s shell.
You’ll see that it’ll open up from the bottom up, which prevents breaking the almond inside.
5. The almond will pretty much fall out in your hand. This is exactly how it fell into my hand when I let it out of the vice of the nutcracker.
So, how many almonds can you expect from a one pound bag? Not as many as you’d think. This bowl was pretty much full of shells, and I netted six ounces of nuts. (The scale was set to zero with just the container on it before this).
Not bad for a $.99 investment, but, took some effort to get here.
On a side note, the shells can go in your compost bin, of course, as they provide good “spacer” material, much like woodchips or straw.
Happy shelling!
View Comments (12)
Funny, I’ve been “into” shell pistachios lately. I decided to weigh the empty shells afterward, and it was about 1/2 the total weight. Depending on where you buy them (like Trader Joe’s), it could be cheaper to buy shelled pistachios. I was pretty surprised.
Anyway, the actual point of my post was to thank you for the suggestion to put the empty shells into compost. Duh, I totally messed up on that one. I’m going to have to save them next time, and NOT throw them away. It makes total sense!!!!
(PS found you on the project food blog, plus I know I’ve seen your blog around online too. I’m looking forward to reading your product reviews!)
Hi Debbie,
Thanks for the note. My husband is very “into” shelled pistacios too! He thinks he eats less if he shells them — I think he’s probably right.
Glad you stopped by, and happy composting! ?
Angela
Thank you!!! My neighbour has an almond tree and every morning she sweeps them up and actually trow them away. She just could not open them. We used big stones but that only mutilated the poor almonds and sometimes damaged our fingers. I have to direct her to this site. (But if i tell her she might not be so kind with the almonds again. lol)
Ha, Cynthia, hopefully she will be able to enjoy them and share with you now!
Thank you very much. You made me happy
Thank you Egidio, your note made me happy!
Just nearly lost the end of my thumb using a hammer and an anvil.
I think I need a glass of grappa
I am working in Afghanistan on Almond Value Chain; and I am looking for small technology to help women separate almond and shell without loss from breaking the almond. Your technology looks pretty convenient. It would be great for an opportunity to share idea. Would appreciate a private reply.
Kind regards.
Syed Azim
Angela!
You're a legend! Your method was just perfect!
This is the most efficient way of cracking almonds open; your guide is succinct and easy to understand.
You've saved me from crushed fingers and a lot of bad swear words!!!
Thank you so much :)
Would you please tell me where you got your great nut cracker? It looks like a very good one that would hold up well if cracking a lot of almonds! Thanks for sharing your method of cracking almonds so they come out whole! Never knew this before! Thanks again!!!
who wrote the article on cracking almonds ??
almonds that come out as WHOLE ALMONDS..this is a life-changing post for me.
i get 200 almonds every year from my tree....never been able to crack them . I ..broke every nut cracker I own. I learnt so much from this person... now I FSN crack them all with great ease
cathy
What brand are your nut crackers?