Mallorcan almonds growing in UK
Today at our office we have received an email from Richard with this title: “Photo for Juan”. Attaching a photo of a pot with a growing almond. It is not usual to find mallorcan almonds growing in the United Kingdom. Do you want to know the story behind this picture?
Almonds in Mallorca
Juan Vives is one of our best guides in Nofrills Excursions. He does many excursions every week with us: Island tour with bus, boat, tram and train, Caves of Drach and Porto Cristo, Valldemosa and Soller with the tram… As all the members of our Nofrills Excursions staff, he is passionate about the island. Apart from his magnificent job as a guide showing to our clients the island of Mallorca, he also enjoys spending some time in the countryside. During the tours he does he likes to speak about almond trees to the clients and he always have almond seeds with him.
It is quite common that we have on our excursions, clients who love gardening. To have Juan with them is a great chance for getting some almond seeds. It is the most original souvenir from Mallorca!
These almonds given to the clients by Juan are from different types and varieties of almond trees, since these almond trees were planted more than 100 years ago in Campanet, an small town located in the middle of Mallorca, by his grandfather. Year after year, during the month of September Joan collects almonds in his country house. Once he has finished with this task, he can give to his clients an almond seed when they go on their excursions in Malloca.
This is what hapenned last year when Petra and Richard came with us on the excursion A day in Lluc and Soller. Back home, they planted the seeds and this is the actual result:
As you see the mallorcan almond tree is starting to grow in United Kingdom. We really hope that in the future Richard and Petra have the opportunity to have some beautiful and tasty almond trees.
Benefits of almonds
Almonds have also many benefits for the health. For example they help to reduce the levels of cholesterol in blood.
In Mallorca we use the almonds as the main ingredient in many recipes such as macarons, almond milk, and “coca de gató”. “Gató” is a cake that has been made by housewives for centuries. It was a traditional dessert and an essential item for any family gathering, which was served, and continues to be so today, with vainilla ice cream. The cake is circular and it has a strong taste of almonds, which, together with eggs and sugar, are the main ingredients.
We love that our Nofrills Excursions clients send us emails like this, and therefore we wanted to share it with all of you today on our blog and on our facebook page.
Special thanks to Richard and Petra for sending us a beautiful email and photos, and also to Joan for being such a fantastic guide. What are you waiting to plant your almond tree in your own country?
