On a trip to the market last week we came upon green almonds. I had never actually seen almonds in any other state than as a hard nut. They were quite beautiful, vibrant and fresh looking. The man at the market said to serve them fried with fish, but other than that, we had no idea what to do with them.

So when we got home, we did a little exploring of our own. We cut one in half to find something we didn’t expect, the green almond had three distinct layers. The outside was green and tasted like vegetation. The middle layer, which looked like the shape of a ripe almond, had very little taste. Then we got to the core, which was seed shaped and it had a little burst of juice in it. We were pretty perplexed at that point.

So I started searching around I came across something called “pickled Tsagala” or pickled green almonds. Evidently this is a Turkish snack that is pretty common in middle eastern countries. We will surely have to try it! Another way to prepare them is to gently fry them in some olive oil until the outside is crispy. I guess that goes along with what the vegetable guy said about serving them with fish. For a few recipes on green almonds, go here and here.

What did you find interesting at the market this week?