Almonds

Spain is the world’s second largest producer of almonds, and they grow all over the Spanish Mediterranean regions of Catalonia, Valencia, Murcia, Andalusia, Aragón and all over the Balearic Islands. Traditionally, during the harvest in September, the branches of helpless almond trees were beaten by hand with long sticks to release the fruit, which would drop into waiting nets below, but this method is fast disappearing. It’s hardly surprising. I tried it myself several years ago and it is unbearably hard, back-breaking work that almost put me off almonds for life. Today, you’re more likely to hear the dreadful drone of mechanical tree-shakers as they violently grip and shake the trees into submission.