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Almonds
The kernel of the almond nut is largely used in cooking and confectionery for its delicate flavor. There are two kinds, sweet and bitter, so closely resembling each other in appearance as to be almost indistinguishable, excepting by the taste. The sweet variety are harmless, but the bitter almonds contain or generate by fermentation, prussic acid, rendering them extremely dangerous to use without much discretion. A hundred grains of bitter almond pulp are said to contain two drops of the oil, and from fifteen to thirty drops of the oil are sufficient to cause death. The skins of both kinds are very indigestible, and have been known, even when eaten in small quantities, to induce attacks of nettle-rash. For this reason almonds should invariably be skinned or blanched before using.
The best almonds are the Jordan, imported chiefly from Malaga, and preferred for dessert. They are of two kinds; the one above one inch in length, flat with a clean brown skin, sweet, mucilaginous, and rather tough; the other more plump, pointed at one end, brittle, but quite as sweet as the former. Valencia almonds are reckoned of the second quality; they are cheaper, and consequently are more used. They are under one inch long, round at one end, and bluntly pointed at the other, flat and of a dingy-brown color, and have a dusty skin. Barbary and Italian almonds are smaller and less flattened. Spanish almonds are of mediocre quality, and are usually imported in baskets. When fresh, either kind may be used; but cooks strongly recommend not to buy kernels of any kind if they are dry, broken, worm-eaten, or smell in the least degree rancid.
To Blanch Almonds: The almonds should be thrown into a pan of boiling water, and allowed to remain over the fire until the skins will slip off readily when rubbed between the finger and thumb. It is well then to drain them off, and to plunge them into cold water for a minute or two, when they may be drained again, and the skins rubbed off with a cloth. As they are blanched, throw them into cold water, with a little salt in it; leave them for a couple of hours, then take them out and dry them. They are easily split with a knife, or may be cut lengthwise into long shreds, according to the purpose for which they are required.
To Color Almonds: Whether the almonds are whole, shredded or chopped, it is only necessary to rub them together with the coloring matter until they are saturated; they should then be dried in a screen.
To Pound Almonds: It is better after blanching to let them soak for an hour or so in cold water, which will prevent them in a measure from "oiling." A few drops of water, orange-flower water, or lemon-juice, should be added now and then for the same purpose, as the pounding proceeds. When reduced to a softish pulp, they are ready for use.
Three working techniques are buried in this reference entry: blanching, coloring and pounding almonds. The instructions are sound in outline but the timings and the shopping advice both need updating.
- Blanching timeAlmonds need 30 to 60 seconds in boiling water, not an indefinite stay "over the fire." Left longer they absorb water, soften and lose their snap, which matters if they are going into praline or dessert dishes rather than a paste.
- The two-hour salt soakSkip it unless you are pounding them, in which case an hour in plain cold water genuinely does help; the purpose of the salt is not explained here.
- The hinge: keeping pounded almonds from oilingThe advice to add a few drops of water, orange-flower water or lemon juice as you pound is the most useful line here. Almonds are roughly half fat, and friction alone will split that fat out and give you a greasy sludge instead of a pale pulp. In a food processor, pulse in short bursts and add liquid a teaspoon at a time; a warm bowl is the enemy.
- Bitter almondsThe warning is accurate and still applies. Bitter almonds carry amygdalin, which releases hydrogen cyanide when the nut is crushed and wetted, and their sale for raw eating is prohibited in the United States. Nothing sold in an American supermarket as "almonds" is bitter; where an old recipe calls for a bitter almond or two, almond extract is the modern stand-in.
- Coloring matterRead this instruction with care. Nineteenth-century confectioners' colors included mineral pigments that no one should now eat. Use modern food coloring, and note that a gel or paste color rubbed in dry will streak; thin it with a drop of water first, then dry the nuts on a rack in a low oven rather than in a "screen."
- Jordan and ValenciaThese grade names have largely left the retail trade. Jordan almonds in the sense meant here are the long flat Spanish dessert almond, still sold by specialist grocers; the word in modern American usage means the sugar-shelled candy instead. Any good Nonpareil or Marcona will do the work of both classes described.
- The skinsThe claim that almond skins cause nettle-rash reflects period thinking about indigestibility. Almond skins are simply tannic and slightly bitter, and are best removed for pale preparations. True almond allergy, which is what a modern reader may think of, is unrelated to whether the nut is blanched.
- BuyingThe rancidity test is the one piece of shopping advice to keep. Almonds go off through their oil, not visibly; smell them before use and buy from a shop with turnover, or keep them in the freezer.
This entry sits in the Waldorf book as a piece of kitchen reference rather than a dish, which is how Oscar Tschirky's 1896 volume works throughout: it was assembled as a working manual for a large hotel brigade, where a cook needed to know what grade of almond had been ordered and how to reduce it to pulp for a frangipane or a blancmange as much as he needed a recipe. The almond was central to Victorian confectionery because it ground readily to a smooth, pale, workable paste, and marzipan, macaroons, nougat, orgeat and almond milk all depended on the pounding technique described in the last paragraph. The name "Jordan almond" is generally traced not to the river but to the Spanish and French words for garden, jardín and jardin. The frank discussion of prussic acid in bitter almonds reflects a period when both varieties circulated in commerce and cookbooks assumed the reader might encounter either.