The History of Almonds

You may be surprised to learn that wild almonds are poisonous and that humans had to domesticate almond trees before we could start eating these now popular nuts. Back in the 4th century, a Christian text called St. Basil’s Hexaemeron even offered instructions for piercing a wild almond with pine wood, a practice that may have helped halt the production of its natural toxins. At some point in history, a mutation occurred in a wild almond that inhibited the production of amygdalin, the toxin responsible for the wild almond’s lethal effects and bitter taste. Sometime after the mutation occurred and created the sweet almond, humans learned to domesticate almond trees. (In fact, almond trees are widely believed to be among the first domesticated trees in the world, with archeological evidence of their domestication dating back to 3,000 B.C., though some scientists believe humans may have domesticated almonds even earlier, around 12,000 years ago.) Once humans began consuming the mutated almonds that tasted better and were safe to eat, they quickly embraced them. Almond trees were planted in many parts of the world and over time, domesticated almonds lost almost all of their bitterness. In fact, almonds are considered a healthy food today and most people are completely unaware that poisonous almonds exist! Almonds are now widely consumed all across the world and are readily available at most supermarkets in the United States.