Hi Friends!
After an amazing few days in Lodi, California last week, I’m back in Columbus and ready to recap my Almond Orchard Experience Tour for you guys!
First of all, I must say how grateful I am to The Almond Board of California for sponsoring my trip! Honestly, when I saw the list of attendees, I was a little overwhelmed and felt like I was a bit out of my league! Some of the people who attended are pretty much superstars in the nutrition and fitness world- they’ve trained celebrities, written books, etc…and many have years and years more experience than I do. But one of the things I loved best about this trip was that everyone was so welcoming. I made so many new connections and friends and everyone was so supportive and encouraging to me as a fairly new RD.
The Almond Board staff (Jenny, Stacey, Molly & Natalie), as well as all the wonderful ladies from Porter Novelli (Amaris, Andrea & Michelle) did a great job putting this trip together and I learned so much about almonds!
Let’s recap, shall we?
I arrived in Sacramento on Monday afternoon along with 4 other RDs who were on my flight from Dallas- Angela, Neva, Lisa & Jim.
There was a guy waiting for us with a sign. Kinda made me feel like a superstar 😉
After an hour of driving, we made it to Wine & Roses where we’d be staying. We had a couple of hours to get settled before dinner so I had a snack and rested for a bit:
Then I took a walk! It was beautiful.
Monday evening we had a welcome dinner and it was great to get a chance to mingle and meet some of the other attendees like Kerry & Melissa Joy.
After dinner I was more than ready for bed. Tuesday morning, since my body was still on East Coast Time, I was up at 4:30, which left me plenty of time to get some work done and then head to the fitness center for a quick workout before breakfast!
There were about 8 people in the fitness center right when it opened at 6am and they were all from the Almond Tour 🙂 You could definitely tell we were a group interested in fitness and nutrition! After my workout, I got ready and headed to breakfast and a full day of presentations. I sat next to Larysa & Andrea (two superstar fitness professionals) and enjoyed chatting with them throughout the day.
We heard from a wide variety of speakers and learned about all aspects of the almond industry.
Stacy Humble, the Executive Director of Global Marketing for the Almond Board actually grew up on an almond farm so she explained how they grow and are harvested. A brief overview:
- Almonds are botanically related to roses. They grow on trees that blossom in the spring. In early March, the petals drop and nutlets push up on the branches where the blooms used to be.
- Almond are not self-pollinating. They rely on bees to help them. Without bees, there would be no almonds!
- Renting bees for the orchard is the single biggest production expense for an almond farmer. They set up bee boxes in the orchards and release the bees to pollinate the almonds.
- Most almond farms in CA are small family farms of less than 50 acres. Many farmers grow additional crops, have dairy cows or work full-time jobs in addition to farming almonds.
- All of the almonds on a tree are ready for harvest at the same time, when the hull splits open. Farmers us mechanical shakers to remove the almonds from the trees!
- When almonds are shaken from the trees, they’re at about 7% moisture. Then they lay on the orchard floor for about a week to dry out before they’re harvested.
- Almonds have an outer hull and a shell. The hulls are a valuable byproduct of the almonds industry and are primarily used in cattle feed.
- Once the shell is removed, the almonds are sorted by size and other buyer specifications.
After learning about the growing and harvesting, we heard from a couple of speakers who shared some of the past, current and future research that involves almonds. A few things we learned:
Up next was a quick snack break! We enjoyed all sorts of almond treats. My favorite were the Cinnamon Glazed Almonds! I also got to chat with Desiree & Francy and learn a bit about RD life up in Canada!
Next we heard from the Director of Quality Assurance for the Almond Board. Almond farmers do a lot to keep their orchards clean and free of pests and disease. There are currently 170 validated processes in place to ensure the quality and safety of the almonds we eat. Did you know that all almonds, even those labeled as raw, have to be pasteurized? However, the core of the almonds is not being heated so they can still be labeled as raw.
We also heard from couple of actual almond farmers who told us more about how important bees are to growing almonds!
Up next was lunch! We heard from Nancy Harmon Jenkins, author of The New Mediterranean Diet cookbook and we all received a copy of the cookbook to take home!
The main focus was on the idea that there’s not one right way of Mediterranean eating. Lots of different styles and combos are possible but overall the terminology is familiar, the ingredients are easy to find and the recipes are simple.
After lunch we heard more about the benefits of almonds as a healthy snack:
After wrapping up for the day, we had a couple of hours to ourselves before heading into town for four course dinner with wine pairings! The food was delicious and I enjoyed chatting with Wendy Jo, Tina, Amaris, Molly, Angela and Kristi.
Wednesday we were up early for a trip to the orchards!
We got to visit Stewart & Jasper orchards and see the orchards and the processing facilities!
Just like we had learned about the previous day, we saw the almonds on the tree ready to be harvested and then saw them being shaken from the tree, which was by far the coolest part. Here’s a video:
So cool, right? Next we headed to the processing facility where we saw the almonds being sorted, sized and stored. The top photo is a GIANT pile of almond hulls that will eventually be used in cattle feed:
Most of the sorting is done by machines but there is still some done by hand:
We learned that China is pickiest about the quality of their almonds. They don’t want any visible imperfections, which is a demanding order…but they pay a higher price to get the higher quality.
After our tours, we got to sample some of the Stewart & Jasper products. They had tons of amazing flavored almonds but the raspberry cheesecake was by far my favorite!
Next, we hopped back on the bus and headed to the Almond Board headquarters in Modesto, CA. We had lunch with the CEO, listened to a little presentation from him and then headed back to the hotel.
We had enough of a break that I was able to squeeze in a workout, and then headed to the cocktail hour where I had a long chat with Sharon. She’s the author of The Plant Powered Diet, which some of you may remember I’m reading for CEUs right now. I got so excited when I saw she was on the list of attendees! She also loves Crossfit…so as you can imagine, we had lots to talk about!
From there, we headed to our last dinner. I got the chance to chat with several people I hadn’t spent much time with yet, including Danielle, Amie and Chris.
Thursday morning I was up at 4:30 am to head back to the airport!
It was a whirlwind couple of days, but I had wonderful time, learned a lot and met some great people. Be sure to check out all the people I linked to throughout the post and follow them on twitter for great nutrition, fitness and health advice!
Huge thanks again to The Almond Board for inviting me on the Almond Orchard Experience Tour!
Enjoy!
–Lindsay–
*This trip was paid for by The Almond Board of California. All thoughts and opinions are my own*
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Wow that trip and whole experience sounds absolutely incredible! What an awesome trip!
I’m very interested in the fact that almonds were in king tut’s tomb and the fact that they are related to roses. I find that super fascinating for some reason. And I thought I knew a lot about almonds before;)
Thanks so much for providing so much of the information you learned on the trip!! It’s awesome to get to learn alongside a blogger when they go on this kind of trip 🙂 This makes me love almonds even more than I already did.
as if I needed more reason to love almonds to pieces!!! What an amazing experience that must have been. Such a wealth of information. So so so awesome
I can completely relate with how you felt at first. I felt super out of place when I first read the list of fabulous women who make up the Oakley Women’s Ambassadors. But you quickly learn they don’t make these decisions lightly, and girl.. you deserve this!
renting bees – haha that’s kind of funny and who would have thought?! wow such an awesome trip and YOU are a superstar so you totally deserved to go! 🙂
thanks linz 🙂
I love love love loved following along on twitter too.
I found the whole thing really interesting–and I wasnt even there!!
so glad to hear it!
Sounds like an awesome trip and awesome experience!!!!
Okay, I had no idea that 1) almonds grow on trees 2) there would be no almonds without bees (I can’t hate on bees anymore) and 3.) the nutritional value is the same throughout. I definitely just learned more about almonds than ever and its’ not even 8 am 😉
This sounds silly, but I am absolutely fascinated by the US farming industry. This is one of my favorite posts you have published!
I had absolutely no idea how small scale US almond production is!
How awesome! You were seriously in my neck of the woods! And I LOVE Wine & Roses – that’s where Gary & I got married! 🙂 Looks like you had a blast!
What a fun experience! AND just another reason why bees are so important – without them, no almonds!
What a cool trip! That’s really awesome that they paid for you to do that. I loved reading all those fun facts about almonds, I didn’t know any of that stuff!
What a great experience! I love all of the health information and agricultural information you shared about almonds.
Sounds like it was a great experience and an informative one at that. Great recap too, enjoyed reading the different things you were able to do as well as the little tidbits you shared about almonds 🙂
Oh my gosh Lindsay what an awesome experience. I literally eat almonds every day and didn’t know the facts about them you had listed. This was such an interesting post……..so glad you got to go and share with us the experience so we can learn from it as well!
I just tried some toasted coconut almonds and absolutely loved them! The flavored ones are really nice….especially for a picnic with a glass of wine 🙂
I loved following your adventure on Twitter/Instagram. Sounds like an amazing experience and obviously almonds are THE best. Fun that you got to meet some Canadian RDs too… yay for Canadians hehe Certainly lots to learn about almonds (had no idea bees were necessary)
Ooh, those cinnamon glazed almonds just made me hungry! Looks like such an awesome experience!
Thanks for the story, Lindsay! It was great to meet and spend time with you — I’m glad you found the trip valuable.
They really set you up in a swanky hotel room! Love the look of the place. That’s pretty neat how you got to see the almonds being sorted and also that huge mountain. Sounds like it was really fun and informative!
what a fun trip : ) thanks for sharing all that information with us
Very cool experience for you. Thanks for sharing!
Raspberry Cheesecake Almonds?! Yum! I love almonds but I am intolerant to them…it’s really frustrating because they’re delicious and so good for you.
I was following your whole tour experience.. it was so interesting! I kept tell my friends random facts about almonds, and eventually they were like what the… Eventually I showed them the almonds still on the tree and they were super interested. They looked nothing like I expected them to!
haha i love it!
You should totally not feel out of the league because you’re a rockstar!! Sounds like such an amazing trip. I was following along with your tweets and I loved it 😀
OMG how cool!!!!! 🙂 I would love to go to an Olive Orchard! 😉
And I want that cookbook, looks like you’re going to be sharing a lot of deliciousness VERY SOON!
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Such a cool sounding experience – thanks for sharing. I learned a lot about almonds. Had no idea they were related to roses. I hope you’ll let us know if you make any of the recipes from the cook book. I’m also on the lookout for Mediterranean-inspired recipes.
i’ll definitely let you know!
Looks like such an awesome experience! Glad you had fun! Thanks for all the information about Almonds that I never knew about 🙂
I love the almond-covered Post-It… I wonder RD discovered that at their desk one boring afternoon at work? 😉 Looks like a fabulous trip – almonds are one of my fav snacks!
hahah i can see that being the case 🙂
Raspberry cheesecake almonds?! Holy yum! What an awesome opportunity–almond orchard sounds like heaven!
What an experience! It’s good to see a fellow RD representing as well. I wish I was invited. It looks like it was fun, educational and very, very yummy!
Fab recap!
It sounds like an incredible experience. I learned so much from your bullet points about almonds…. who knew they were related to roses?? so cool and the tree shaking video was so cool, I have to admit, I’ve never thought of how they are harvested.. very interesting!
i’d never thought about it either! pretty cool to watch!
That looks like a really fun and informative trip! The cinnamon almonds look really good.
How fun!!! So cool that you got to do this. Go almonds!!
HOLY CRAP – so much info – who knew!!! 🙂 What a great opportunity & fun too! Beautiful pics of the grounds! Ummmmm, the raspberry cheesecake almonds!!!! 🙂
Wow! What a weekend! I’m a basic almond lover..just a handful of raw almonds and I’m a happy camper. It sounds like you had a fun and informative trip. Great pictures too!
What a great opportunity!! Thanks for sharing your trip and takeaways with us. 🙂
This sounds like an amazing tour and an amazing experience. Who knew almonds could be so interesting!?! Loved reading your recap! Thanks for sharing!
What an awesome opportunity!! Thanks so much for sharing, Lindsay 🙂 I am an almond lover through and through and loved all the fun facts!
Who knew there was that much to learn about almonds?! What an interesting trip!!
kinda crazy, right? I had no idea before i went!
I LOVED this post! I had never really thought about the behind the scenes of where an almond came from- this is so cool! I need to try those basil pesto almonds!
xx Kait