Taste and crunchiness required by industry and consumers alike

Taste and crunchiness required by industry and consumers alike

It was the first time that an almond conference was discussing varieties of almonds. This symposium was in line with the 2025 goals set by the Almond Board putting more emphasis on transparency and positioning California Almonds first in taste and consumer awareness.

Mark Kline, Senior Manager Nut Sourcing, The Hershey Company,Hershey, Pennsylvania

Regarding features of ingredients we take emphasis on taste and crunchiness. The flavour is as important as texture and crunchiness. The ingredients must have the nutty aromatic characteristics of roasted almonds and the grade of roasting should be like other food items browned by heat treatment. The aroma should not be attributed to aged fat or ranciness. There should be no aromatic traces of wet cardboard from package or from the process. The kernel size is expected to be between 21 and 22 mm. There were trials in 2010 aiming at replacing whole almonds by chopped almonds by adding some more kernel weight to it. The consumer reaction was just immediate. The demand for these products went

down significantly and furtheron there were whole almonds used all the time.

Especially the “Kisses” product is bound to whole almonds inside.For other product types other categories of ingredients are required. In general sizes should be 30/32 pieces per ounce. For chocolate bars they need flat almonds, for molded typs small nuts are required.

John Duarte, Duarte’s Nursery, Hughson

The nurseryman presented the Bennett-Hickman almond variety, found by Jim Bennett near a windmill in Hickman. Together with his sons he experimented with the new variety. Duarte said that they have sold until now about one million trees. In its behavior it is like Nonpareil. The bloom lasts 34 days average and harvest occurs two weeks after Nonpareil, the predominant almond variety in California.

The kernel quality has been found similar to Nonpareil with the same roasting features. The kernel in fact is more crunchy and more flavorful than Nonpareil. The tree is full stature, but not as tall as Nonpareil, is yielding 15 to 25% more at the same irrigation amount.