Smoked Almonds.

Divey · April 06, 2015, 07:06:24 PM

I searched through and found as many smoked almond recipes I could find. Many of them had cayenne, chili and other spices but I just wanted smoked almonds as you buy them.

I have noticed that the commercial bought smoked almonds have very fine salt on them so I ground table salt in the mortar and pestle until I was happy with the texture. I had about 900 grams of almonds and I used one tablespoon of safflower oil and coated the almonds with that so the ground salt would stick to them. I smoked them for 2 hours with apple flavoured bisquettes, however, I was of the opinion that there was not enough smokiness so I did them again for another two hours using mesquite.

They are very good now, and, I'm rather happy with the flavour and appearance.

tskeeter · April 07, 2015, 08:29:57 AM

Divey, I'm salivating. Those almonds look really good!

piratey · April 07, 2015, 09:35:14 AM

I was smoking canadian bacon this last weekend and had some space in the smoker, so I looked up smoked almond recipes. I saw one that had me soak my almonds in water for 10 minutes, apply regular table salt and then 30 minutes of smoke. I was using oak pellets. Soaking the almonds helped the salt to stick and it ended up working pretty well. I did think the smokiness was lacking a bit, so I'll increase the smoke time next time. All in all, I liked it. Only took me two days to finish the almonds, they were pretty addictive.

Divey · April 07, 2015, 05:49:38 PM

It is amazing that the almonds don't really like to take on the smoked flavour as you would expect. Considering that I gave them a total of 4 hours just does not sound right. However, that extra time with the oven set at 105°C has made the almonds really nice and crunchy.

A couple of friends demolished a fair few last night with a few home made lagers.

scubadoo97 · April 08, 2015, 04:08:39 PM

I find they do take on considerable smoke flavor but it blooms as they rest a day or two

I've done them wet and dry. Most often I brine them in a mixture of bourbon, salt and a little brown sugar then smoke. I use perforated pans which helps the smoke get in and around the nuts

Gafala · April 08, 2015, 06:34:10 PM

I use cheese cloth double fold, smoke for 2 hours and then let them bloom for a week. I due 20lbs of almonds when I do them.

Divey · April 08, 2015, 08:24:47 PM

I used the metal fly-screen material you can buy from the Hardware store and put that inside the normal BS trays.

piratey · April 09, 2015, 08:51:13 AM

I used Q-Mats. I only did a single tray's worth for my first try, but I plan to do more this weekend. Anyone have a good recipe for sweet almonds, pecans or walnuts? I liked the salty version, but I kind of want to try a sweet one too.

Jim O · April 09, 2015, 12:04:23 PM

I do the same as Gafala,but put in the over at 225 for about 15-20 minutes to give them some crunch. Mine also take on a stronger smoke flavour after 1-2 weeks rest.

Divey · April 09, 2015, 05:29:28 PM

What are Q mats ???

tailfeathers · April 10, 2015, 06:29:48 AM

Q mats are similar to frogmats, they are available from the A-maze-n website. They sell them by the foot in different widths. I bought some and cut them about one inch bigger than a Bradley rack. Cut a 45 degree slit in each corner then zip tied them to make baskets for smoking nuts, snack mix etc. they work great!

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

tailfeathers · April 10, 2015, 07:08:02 AM

Piratey I've got a good recipe for honey smoked almonds but I'm at work right now. I'll try to remember to post it when I get home.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

piratey · April 10, 2015, 09:25:38 AM

Quote from: tailfeathers on April 10, 2015, 07:08:02 AM
Piratey I've got a good recipe for honey smoked almonds but I'm at work right now. I'll try to remember to post it when I get home.

Awesome! I'd like to smoke some this weekend. My salted ones from last weekend only lasted two days.

piratey · April 10, 2015, 09:27:28 AM

I saw tailfeather's qmats in some other thread and used those as my inspiration. Did the same thing, except I didn't zip-tie the corners to the actual rack, since I wanted to be able to remove it when doing other products. It worked great for smoking cheese and almonds.

tailfeathers · April 10, 2015, 11:21:49 AM

For sweet smoked almonds try this one. 3# almonds 6 oz honey 1/2 cup brown sugar 1/2 cup maple syrup 1/2 cup melted butter 1 tsp sea salt 2 tsp cinnamon 3/4 tsp nutmeg. Combine all, stir into almonds and refrigerate 6 hrs, stir every hour or so. Spray frog mats with pam and spread almonds in a single layer. Smoke at 200 until dry, rotate racks periodically.