Fresh green almonds

Whilst loitering on the outdoor sidewalk portion of one of my go-to Brooklyn foods shops (that would be Frank & Sal) I came across a box filled with fresh green almonds. They were as inconspicuously displayed as so unusual an item could possibly be, next to the packaged mushrooms in the blue foam boxes, just above a crate of ripe eggplant.

Certain that I was a buyer but not knowing what to do with the furry green things, I went inside and asked some of the guys who run the place what gives.

"The old-timers buy them," I was told. "Most just crack them open with their teeth, eat them raw."

"Where are they from?" I wondered as one of the men escorted me outside to demonstrate the tooth technique.

"California, I think," he said. "Here, give it a try."

And that is how I came to be in possession of about three pounds of fresh green almonds. From California. I think.

Which I cracked using the method taught to me on a Brooklyn sidewalk in early July.

Cool huh?

Okay, so you don't net a lot of almonds out of this exercise, so what.

And, but for a few, I did not eat them raw. These almonds were lightly sauteed in olive oil, fresh rosemary and thyme, then seasoned with sea salt and served with cheeses.

Good stuff.