Los Almendros
Our Almond Trees
The almond tree is a small but graceful deciduous deciduous tree that grows in mountainous areas, usually between 700 and 1700 meters altitude. The tree thrives best on sunny slopes on rocky soils in a Mediterranean climate with warm dry summers and mild, wet winters. The optimum temperature for their growth is between 15 and 30 °C.
The tree grows to an average height of 4 to 10 meters, in exceptional cases 12 meters. The trunk grows to a maximum of 30 cm in diameter. The young twigs are green at first, but turn purple to brownish when exposed to sunlight. In their second year of life, the branches become grayish.
The tree blooms profusely in early spring (February - March), when the tree has not yet formed leaves. The flower is white to light pink and contains a large amount of nectar. A lot insects, especially bees, are attracted to it and ensure pollination.
The almond tree produces drupes, in which a almond develops. On average, about 20% of the flowers give a note. This percentage depends, among other things, on weather conditions, availability of bees, diseases and the health of the tree. The weather conditions are the most important factor. From the end of August the almonds are ripe and the drupe bursts open.
Harvesting is done by shaking the trees, mechanically or otherwise. Once harvested, the almonds are cleaned - stripped of their skins - and dried. To dry, the almonds lie on a special net for a week, where they are turned every few hours. The almond must maintain a certain degree of moisture. When they have achieved it, they are taken to the Cooperative for processing.
