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To Blanch Almonds
Drop the almonds into hot water; allow it just to boil, then strain, and remove the brown skins, drop the almonds into cold water until required, so as to keep their color.
A one-line technique note of the kind that filled the back pages of period cookbooks, when almonds came from the grocer with their skins on and every cook had to remove them by hand. The instruction is sound; only the timing needs a modern gloss.
- The hinge: heat briefly, not longBring the water to a boil, drop the almonds in, and leave them no more than 60 seconds before draining. Left to simmer, the nuts absorb water, turn soft and slippery, and lose the snap you want for slicing or shredding.
- SkinningPinch each nut between thumb and forefinger and the skin slides off in one piece. Work while they are still warm; once cold the skins grip again, and you will be back at the kettle.
- Why the cold waterBlanched almonds discolour on exposure to air, which mattered in a period when whiteness was the point for marzipan, ratafias and almond milk. Holding them under cold water keeps them pale, though not indefinitely.
- Dry them before useThe original does not say so, but wet almonds will not brown, will not grind to a fine powder, and will spit violently in hot fat. Blot on a towel, and for grinding spread them on a tray in a 300F oven for a few minutes until dry to the touch but not coloured.
- QuantitiesNo amount is given because the method scales freely. A pound of almonds in the shell yields only a fraction of its weight in kernels, varying with variety and shell thickness, and skinning takes off a little more weight again.
- When to skip itBlanched almonds, whole and slivered, are sold everywhere now. Do this when a recipe wants them freshly blanched for marzipan or almond milk, where the flavour of just-skinned nuts is noticeably better than the packet.
Blanching is simply the old word for whitening, from the French blanchir, and in almond work that is literally what it does: the brown seed coat comes away and leaves the kernel ivory. Almonds were commonly sold with their skins on, whether shelled or in the shell, so instructions like this one are a familiar feature of the miscellaneous pages of cookbooks of the period, alongside notes on clarifying sugar and colouring icing. Blanched almonds were the base of a long list of standbys now mostly out of fashion: almond milk for invalid cookery and fast days, pounded almond paste for marzipan and macaroons, and the split or shredded almonds strewn over trout, puddings and casseroled birds. A book on casserole cookery may include the note because almonds turn up as garnish and thickener.