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Almond-ing with the Almond Board of California

California Almonds invited me to attend their Almond Orchard Experience.  My airfare, meals and hotel accommodations were all paid for.  I was not compensated to write this post…I just thought it’d be fun to share the trip with you.

I recently took a trip to my favorite state (California!!) to learn all about almonds with the Almond Board of California and to find out exactly how we get this…

where does almond flour come from? | immaEATthat

Let’s find out.

The first day of the trip I arrived at Wine & Roses Resort and headed to the pool for a swim to stretch my legs after traveling all day.  

ahhh.  pool love<3

After a quick shower it was time for a cocktail hour + a cooking demo.  Abbey and McKenzie volunteered to assist!

California almonds cooking demo | immaEATthat.com

 At one point the chef made almond cheese.  I’ve had almond cheese before that was SO gross and vowed to never eat it again, but this way actually really tasty! Made with soaked almonds, nutritional yeast, olive oil, garlic and lemon juice.  

Served on a grilled peach salad with almond vinaigrette made with…you guessed it, almond oil!

grilled peaches + almond oil vinaigrette + almond cheese | immaEATthat.com

Then we moved outside to keep mingling and eat dinner.  

Salmon + grilled veggies + salad + a roll.

california almond trip dinner | immaEATthat.com

The next day started off with a yoga session from RD friend Alex.  She’s one of those yoga teachers that gives mini massages during class.  IT IS THE BEST.  

While we were doing a breathing exercise, Alex mentioned to the group that if she said something that doesn’t fit with you, reframe the saying in your mind so it does.  I really liked the class starting with this because sometimes yoga teaches say some interesting things and I’m like whaaat, but I don’t believe that and now I’m going to think about how I don’t agree with that statement for the rest of the class.

Yeah..really liked this yoga class.

yoga | immaEATthat.com

 After yoga, we headed to breakfast.

Eggs + bacon + greek yogurt + ginger almond granola + oranges + an iced almond milk latte on the side.

breakfast | immaEATthat.com

Then we spent the rest of the morning listening to a couple talks all about…ALMONDS.  We learned about sustainability, almond growing, almond nutrition, almond marketing/advertising and almond trends.  

Some of my favorite info I learned or was reminded of:

  • Almonds are California’s second most valuable crop, second to milk.
  • Over the past 20 years, almond growers have improved their water use efficiency by 33%.
  • 1 servings of almonds = 23-28 almonds
  • Research is showing that consumers want high protein snacks to help satisfy hunger.  Since almonds are high in protein (6 grams protein/23 almonds), they are a great snack option.  (I’d recommended pairing almonds with a carb source – fruit, yogurt, dried fruit, pretzels- for a more balanced snack.)
  • Research has found that there is a significant association between eating a one-ounce servings of nuts (~25 almonds) daily and a lower death rate from cancer, heart disease and respiratory disease compared to those who did not eat nuts.

Around then it was time for lunch.  

BBQ chicken + mac & cheese + cornbread + salad.

lunch | immaEATthat.com

Then we were divided into teams to compete to see who could create the best almond-infused snack.  Our team won thanks to Megan’s advice to keep it simple.

Almond Bars | immaEATthat.com

We had a couple hours free time so I headed back to my hotel room to get some work done.  The Wine & Roses resort was gorgeous.  My room had a lofted bedroom with SO MUCH natural light.  Plus a massive balcony.  I got very little work done during the two hour break because all I wanted to do was sit on the balcony or take a bubble bath.  I did both and then got back to almond-ing.

wine & roses resort // lodi, CA | immaEATthat.com

Next up on the agenda was a trip for dinner to Lange Twins Winery.  

 Lange Twins Winery - Lodi, CA | immaEATthat.com Lange Twins Winery - Lodi, CA | immaEATthat.comLange Twins Winery - Lodi, CA | immaEATthat.comcalifornia almond trip post-2 

Dinner was roasted summer veggies + almond oil drizzled lamb kabobs + paella timbales + shrimp with romesco sauce.

Dessert was an almond cake that I felt kinda meh about until I tried it.  The entire cake tasted like marzipan…the best!!

Lange Twins Winery | immaEATthat.com

 Then back to the hotel to sleep!

The next day started with a run with RD friends Heather, Deanna, Genevieve, Rachel, and Kim.  After running cross country in high school and then continuing to run too much in college (my poor body), I finally came to the realization that I actually don’t love long distance running (anything over 2 miles) so now I don’t run over that distance on my own…but I’m always up for morning runs with new friends! We covered about 3.5 miles.

morning run | immaEATthat.com

Showers then breakfast.

Oatmeal + gingery almond granola + cantaloupe + egg burrito + iced almond milk latte.

breakfast burritos | immaEATthat.com

 Then our group headed over to an almond orchard and production facility.

almond orchard | immaEATthat.com

One of the highlights of my trip was when I saw Meme making a snow angle in the thousands of almonds that were on the ground waiting to be picked up.  The cutest!

almond orchard | immaEATthat.com

So little did I know, but almonds are actually closely related to peaches.  They have an outer hull that is fuzzy just like a peach.  Who knew?!

almonds! | immaEATthat.com

Then we walked around the production facility to see almonds get ready to be sent to you via giant machines like this…

almond processing | immaEATthat.com

 Last up was a picnic lunch.

Italian sandwich + greek salad + my first macaron EVER (yum!) + a mini jar of peach cobbler.

almond picnic | immaEATthat.com almond picnic | immaEATthat.com macaron | immaEATthat.com

With that we headed back to the resort and I took a late night flight back to Houston.  Thanks for having me, Almond Board of California.

There’s a fun almond flour breakfast recipe coming your way this week! 

11 comments

  1. This trip looks amazing! I had no idea that almonds were related to peaches either.  Crazy!  Also, I LOVE a hands-on yoga teacher.  Massages during savasana are the best!

  2. I love that the yoga teacher said that because a lot of the time I’m like “what are even saying,” but I love yoga :) Also, almond flour breakfast recipe.. I cannot hold my excitement.

  3. How fun! I didnt know almonds had an outer shell!

  4. Do you (or the almond people) have the recipe for the almond cake? I’d love to try that.

  5. Loooove your recap! I laughed out loud when I saw my “almond angel” picture hahaha! xxoo

  6. What a fun, delicious trip!! I’m majorly jealous!

    That’s so fun that you got to take a yoga class from Alex – love her! And mini massages are one of my fav parts of the practice too :)

  7. OK some of the most gorgeous photos from the trip:) Love this recap and it was a treat getting to see you in Lodi – and now I’ll see you on the other coast in a few days – whoot!

  8. Gah! I went on this trip last year and had such a blast learning ALL about almonds. Wine & Roses is such a lovely resort — I can’t totally understand why you didn’t get much work done. 

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