Organic Raw Almonds

These are some pretty fantastic raw organic almonds that smell amazing and are so fresh I can eat them right out of the bag! These aren’t dry but a bit moist and delicious and I love the health benefits and nutrients. For excellent functionality I gring them up on some water in my mini blender and I didn’t need to soak them first!

Unbelievable for making tasty almond milk. These are unpasteurized as all USA almonds must be by law, so they come from Spain and are a little smaller than our CA almonds being Valencia almonds., After soaking for about 12 hours in filtered water 1 cup swells (sprouts) to become 1 1/2 cups of almond goodness and are tehn easy to slip the almond shells off - important to remove any bitter taste. If they are hard to remove, just throw some more filtered water over them again for a while. Then squeeze them out in a bag (I use the Bigger Better Nut Milk Bag which is so much better than anything smaller and a good valiue, see my review of that here on Amazon. REALLY squeezew them to get all the delicious almond milk juice out of them. You'll find the almond milk to be creamier, smelling and tasting of almonds so much more than anything store bought (which , when you look at the ingredients are apparently very little almonds and a lot of additives. You can sweeten to your liking or not, add salt or not to enhance the flavor, etc. . Its up to YOU! ANd remaining in the bag - don't throw it out! - is the finest most delicious base for almond butter (SO expensive these days). Simply add to the ground almonds (after drying in a slow oven ) your small amount of honey and coconut or vegetable oil to make a good consistency and you'll have the finest almond butter ever! This is so special I save it for drinking straight or mixed with regular cow's milk, and use store bought "almond" milk for smoothies where I wont miss the flavor as much. It is expensive initially, but cup for cup 1 cup almonds yields over a quart of almond milk and almond butter to boot, it probably works out the same all told. Will buy again and again. GREAT stuff!

I caught these when Amazon was having a promotion, which was quite a lucky break. Not because of the promo, but because these are incredibly delicious and fresh! Like a lot of people, I believe raw almonds are a nutritional powerhouse. They also add much needed protein to my diet. They might be more expensive than the grocery store brand, but there's no comparison in terms of taste. They taste cleaner and fresher. Pasteurization can kill some of the good stuff due to the high heat. Because it also kills some of the bad stuff that can possibly be on food items, it remains as an industry standard in the United States. These nuts are truly raw, with all the benefits, because they are from Spain. Some of the best varieties come from Spain and Italy. As with any natural product, there will be some variation based on weather conditions. I'm always delighted to get an almond or two in the bag that might be on the bitter side. They are delicious in the same way that bitter chocolate is delicious. Please know that they aren't spoiled, it's just a variation. Best of all, unlike most almonds, these are sproutable, unlocking even more nutrients. It's easy to do, just keeping them moist. There are lots of online tutorials on sprouting nuts.

First, let me comment on the quality of these. I soaked the almonds, and dehydrated them to remove any so-called anti-nutrients. The nuts had a very unappealing quality to them, almost as if they were shriveled up on the inside. Taste was OK, but not great, and not bad. Now, moving on, I was leary of these almonds being that they are imported from Spain, thereby having zero regulations as to the quality and type of product it is. My test was to eat 1, and see how I feel. I noticed a mild headache, but I thought it might be something else. I figured I'll try again, so I ate a maybe 2 or 3 more. Mild symptoms again like a tummy ache, and slight headache but I couldn't be for sure that it was these. I should have listened to my gut instinct and stopped here. Then I decided that surely they must be fine, so I proceeded to make almond butter out of them. I probably only ate the equivalent of 6-8 nuts, ground up. After 30 minutes, a terrible headache came upon me. Then, my heart started pounding and racing. I felt a weird queasy sensation. I started to feel sickly, like something wasn't right. After about an hour, I felt bad enough and threw up what little I ate. After that, the headache and brain fog lasted 6 more hours, slowly subsiding, before it finally ended. There is no doubt that I consumed bitter, toxic almonds. I know it was due to these almonds because I had eaten nothing that day except a few chips, and these almonds, after fasting almost 18 hours. Perhaps maybe only 1 out of 10, or who knows, is of the Bitter Almond variety. Now, none of the almonds I ate tasted bad, probably because I only ate a little bit ground up with non-bitter almonds. But I would never want to experience that again. This company is either 1) knowingly importing toxic Bitter Almonds and selling them as Sweet Almonds 2) shadily mixing bitter almonds with sweet almonds in order to cut the product and maximize profits, since bitter almonds are mostly trash and cannot be sold very many places, or 3) completely negligent in selling a product that is contaminated with Bitter Almonds and continues to be willfully negligent after multiple reports. There are at least 15 other complaints on here of people getting sick, headaches, tasting nasty bitterness, or a chemical taste in their mouth. One person said they ended up in the Emergency Room with symptoms of food poisoning, which can be similar to Cyanide toxicity from eating bitter almonds. Another person said they had the same type of heart pounding that I did. I recommend you DO NOT buy any almonds imported from anywhere, and strictly purchase USA grown almonds as that is the only real way to ensure you don't buy bitter toxic almonds, since food imports are not subject to ANY local, state, or federal regulations regarding growing standards, handling, or ensuring they are what they say they are: sweet almonds. Bitter almonds cannot be grown and sold as food in the USA. Eating these almonds is a risk. It could go very badly if a small child, elderly person, or person with a compromised immune system ate too many of these. I'm considering pursuing legal action against this company, Terrasoul, as they have caused harm not only to me, but many other people, and they should not continue to profit from this commercial activity which is clearly endangering people. I do not want to hear of some poor kid dying because he ate a bunch of these almonds. But if someone like me, with a strong, healthy, vibrant immune system could contract such symptoms as I did from eating only a small handful of these, I worry for any kids who might eat these. While I do not have a laboratory statement to confirm my claims and suspicions, my experience cross-referenced with the other experiences shared here on Amazon lead me to believe this product either is, or is contaminated with, Toxic Bitter Almonds, and should be removed from sale immediately from the Amazon Platform. Fellow Amazoner's, you have been warned.

TERRASOUL Is a company you can trust

Guess I got lucky, just opened my first bag and my almonds are not bitter or excessively shriveled or sad-looking. They taste fine. I will store them in the fridge, as the bag recommends, so they stay that way. :) But I got to thinking - that maybe next time I would get a bitter / shriveled batch, and I wouldn't want to take my chances each time. [BTW, I've purchased other items from Terrasoul, and everything else has been great, each time. Not nuts, but wheatgrass juice powder, spirulina powder, and raw cacao powder - always good quality.] I think the company is fine, the problem is that the nuts come from Spain and they probably don't have much control over them (read below). It really is true that you can't buy *truly raw* organic almonds (meaning no pasteurization or anything) that have been grown in the US, and purchased through a merchant. These from Terrasoul are from Spain. So are Trader Joe's (which are reliably bitter). A-ha, so that's why bloggers in the Paleo space talk about Spanish Almonds. Now I get it. I took the advice of another reviewer, and looked into buying organic truly-raw almonds directly from the farmer - which *is* allowed. That reviewer mentioned Bremner Farms in Chico, CA, and my first order arrives in a few days. They provide online ordering and payment via PayPal - simpleton website, but it works fine, and hey, it's a farm! I don't need a lot of razzmatazz from a website to buy nuts... I didn't do a thorough cost comparison, but I think they charge about the same as other suppliers. Shipping will jack up the price though. My next order will be their walnuts - which are not organic, but they do a good job explaining why on their website. All grown in the US, truly raw, not shipped from Spain, and probably much much fresher as a result. I think the extra shipping cost is worth it - better than risking a bitter bag, which may cost less, but then you're stuck with bitter nuts...plus they're almost guaranteedly fresher.

I purchased this brand twice and quality was great each time. Tastes fresh and I love that they not roasted. The value was decent for this size bag.

Everything that I have purchased from Terrasoul on Amazon has been fresh, tasty, healthy, in-stock, and delivered on time...almonds, cashews, and cacao powder. I have tried others, and now look no further. I drink at least 2 smoothies a day, and make sure to never run out of my fabulous Terrasoul products. I soak and dehydrate my nuts, and they keep very well. Makes for very tasty home made almond and cashew milk. The cacao is slightly less bitter than other brands that I have tried, and almost creamy when I lick it off of my finger. The point in mentioning all of the Terrasoul products that I keep in my cabinets is because they are all high quality, fair priced, and Terrasoul has become a brand that I trust without question. I look forward to putting more of their products in my daily rotation once my stock of other brands is depleted. Also, these almonds are raw and organic from Spain, and have not been irradiated. Good stuff.

Very good quality