actually smoked almonds?

July 25, 2024 9:49 AM

I love smoked almonds, but they always list "smoke flavor" in the ingredients, which I assume means that the flavor is applied, and they haven't actually spent any time in a smoker. I'm curious to try almonds that have actually been smoked. Where can I get some?

So far my google searches have only turned up recipes for DIY (I'm not gonna DIM) and explanations that most smokehouse almonds have not been smoked.

posted by moonmilk to Food & Drink (10 answers total)

I have not tried Papa's Best Batch, but I bookmarked them when I had a similar wander down the rabbit hole about "wtf is ~liquid smoke~" awhile back. They say that "All nuts are hand smoked over local apple wood in Papa's custom smoker," and that "so-called 'natural flavors'" are not included with their nuts. That being said, they've also had additional herbs and spices applied to them, so it's not just almonds + smoke.
posted by Pandora Kouti at 11:13 AM on July 25, 2024 [1 favorite]

To be fair, 'liquid smoke', which is the smoke flavoring I have and use in my kitchen, has two ingredients: smoke and water. It's the smokehouse equivalent of bong water, I guess? In any case, because of that, I feel like using it is very similar to actual smoke exposure.
posted by Ausamor at 12:02 PM on July 25, 2024 [8 favorites]

That link to Papa's Best Batch looks like it answers the question"Where can I get some?", and Papa runs down liquid smoke and "liquid ashtray", but the wikipedia page lists 10 publications by the EU Food Safety Authority on the safety of various liquid smoke applicants. And this youtube video speaks processes to remove tars, methane, and other harmful ingredients.
How liquid smoke is made
posted by at at 3:26 PM on July 25, 2024

Seconding that Liquid Smoke is, surprisingly, literally smoked water. This is of course different than actually smoking the almonds themselves since that flavors the actual fats in the nuts.

For actual smoked almonds, I would check farmer's markets and other similar outlets for the sale of small batch/homemade foods. Also, find a friend with a smoker, because they will absolutely throw a batch in for you. Smoking nuts is quick, or they get toooooooo smoked.
posted by desuetude at 9:50 PM on July 25, 2024

Best answer: These are my go-to:

Capay Hills
posted by jason and the garlic knots at 4:27 AM on July 26, 2024

Regarding Liquid Smoke, it is made effectively the same way as whiskey is distilled. Wood is burned which produces smoke. The hot, smokey air is rapidly chilled and the flavorful smoke particles latch onto water vapor in the air and is condensed into a liquid. That liquid is captured, bottled and sold.

Back when Alton Brown was in his phase of making absurd devices to demonstrate how culinary processes work, he made his own liquid smoke. It is near the end of the video clip.
posted by mmascolino at 9:24 AM on July 26, 2024 [1 favorite]

And Adam Ragusea
posted by at at 8:04 PM on July 27, 2024

Response by poster: I did know that smoke flavor is made of smoke, but I still wanna try actually-smoked almonds. I'm ordering from Capay Hills - thanks for the recommendation!
posted by moonmilk at 6:02 PM on July 30, 2024

Response by poster: OK, I got my Capay Hills almonds and did a side-by-side comparison with Blue Diamond Smokehouse almonds. The actually smoked almonds smell and taste like sitting by a bonfire on a chilly night. The smoke flavor almonds have no odor and taste like Smoke Flavor™. I still love that flavor, but the real thing is a totally different experience.
posted by moonmilk at 2:36 PM on August 2, 2024

Response by poster: One final update: after a few weeks of eating almonds, I've come to the conclusion that the real smoked almonds are more interesting, but the commercial smoke flavor almonds are tastier. It makes sense - they're a carefully designed industrial product, optimized for consistent snackiness. The real ones are sometimes burnt or bitter, and the smoky scent can be overwhelming. Still good though!
posted by moonmilk at 4:47 PM on August 13, 2024