Almonds and Celery - new experiences

I'm a big fan of nuts, particularly raw nuts.  I add them with fruit to 'fridge porridge' regularly snack on them and one of my favourite salads is Blue Cheese and Walnut salad, on a bed of mixed leaves, cherry tomatoes and a pomegranate sauce dressing.



I'm not a big fan of marzipan but I do like almonds to snack on but until a few days ago, I'd never heard of eating green almonds.  I was given this treat by my Turkish neighbours and at first thought they were odd shaped olives.  
I've since done a bit of googling to find out more.  With the help of Wikipedia I found out that almonds are drupes (stone fruit), not nuts, and the 'nuts' we eat are the seeds.  Peaches are also drupes.  Almonds can be sweet or bitter as there are different varieties.
Back to green almonds, though!  They are only around for a few weeks in early spring and if left on the tree, ripen to the harder, brown nut that we are more familiar with, particularly in the UK.



 The green almond is, unsurprisingly, almond shaped with a fuzzy light green outer, which is why I at first thought they were a type of olive.  Bit into them and the inner is white, softer than the ripened nut but still a bit crispy and with a tart, nutty flavour.  I found them slightly bitter compared to the ripe nut but still nice to eat.  I was offered salt with it but declined.  I've since read that green almonds are a popular Middle Eastern treat and generally eaten with salt so, if I get chance to try more, I'll try them that way.

 A few weeks earlier, my neighbour presented me with a bundle from the hobby garden; big, round, white root, long stems and leaves and indicated that the root and leaves could be eaten but discard the stems.  I then discovered this was celery which back in the UK, we eat the stems and discard the leaves and I've never seen a celery root.  I decided to try the root which I chopped and added to a casserole.  It had the texture of swede and turnip but tasted of...... celery! 

 I can see my blog turning in to one of food experiences during the coronavirus lockdown 😁

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