Author: Almonds are a great nut to add to any dish. But did you know that you need to wash them first? Get the details on how to wash almonds here!
I used to just pop open a bag of fresh almonds and toss them into whatever dish I was making. They were delicious, and I really didn’t think anything of the practice.
But when we starting making our own almond milk I realized that I had been doing it wrong all along!
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How to Wash Almonds
You wouldn’t think so by just looking at them, but almonds are actually pretty dirty straight out of the bag. Don’t feed yourself and your family dirty food when the task of cleaning them is such a simple one.
1. Remove from bag and place in a bowl at least two times larger than the amount of almonds you wish to wash.
2. Start to scrub them together in the water and watch as the dirt comes off easily!
3. To scrub them, simply grab them in a fist and kind of grind them together for a few minutes. This uses the almonds themselves to clean the others!
4. Then rinse the almonds in fresh water until it runs clear.
How to Dry the Almonds After Washing
Just as the washing process is simple, so is the drying process!
Once they are washed, you can use them right away for almond flour, almond milk, homemade granola bars, or any other recipe that will be baked.
If you want to have them around for snacks, or just to put back into storage, just place them on a baking sheet and put them in the oven on 175° until completely dry and crisp again. That way they are not a mold risk from the moisture of washing.
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Does this go for ALL almonds?
Since writing this post, I’ve had quite a few people email me asking if organic almonds also need to be washed.
We have been using almonds of all varieties and from all different places for about a decade now and I can say that ALL of the almonds I have ever purchased (since finding out that they need to be washed) have been dirty.
I am sure that it’s having to do with the packing process or something, however, the fact remains that they are dirty. Like, literal DIRT.
The reason I discovered the issue was because out almond milk was grainy the first time I made it from scratch… after some investigation I of course discovered that the culprit was our dirty almonds!
Save yourself the pain (and dirt filled mouth, yuck!) and go ahead and wash your almonds first!
Does this go for ALL nuts?
Another question I have been getting is whether all nuts should be washed.
While I really only have extensive experience with almonds, the process of washing nuts is easy enough. So try washing your other snack nuts and just see if anything comes off in the water! :-)
Looks like tannin. Tannin is a yellowish or brownish organic substance present in some plant tissues such as nuts.
Hey TG, you’re right, it does look a lot like tannin! We process our own acorn flour, so I’m used to seeing tannins… however, this is gritty, which tannins are not, but dirt is :-)
Good info to know. I will wash my almonds before I make milk.
How do they get actual dirt on them? Almonds are cracked out of a shell. Just confused. This looks like color from the skins. I have heard of soaking them to break down enzymes and to leach color and tannins before making almond milk but never because of dirt.
Hi Brianna, the best I can tell it’s maybe just the ground up shell from the cracking process and the debris from all that. Whatever it is, my water definitely full of grit and grim after washing them. (yuck!)
Some of the color is surely from the skins, but there is a marked difference in the grittiness of the almonds when you eat them after washing.
Hope that helps, thanks for stopping by!