# Storage Life of Raw Almonds?



## bluemoonluck (Oct 28, 2008)

I'm moving soon which means I'll be spending about 2-3 weeks with no freezer (gonna be in an "extended stay" motel while all my stuff makes the cross country journey). Because of this I've been using up my frozen preps and focusing on preps that require no refrigeration.

So of course our local WinCo is having a sale this week - Raw Almonds, unsalted, $1.99/pound. Normally I'd buy them, food save them and freeze them, but with my current situation that wouldn't make any sense. 

If I just buy them and food save them, and keep them at room temp, how long do y'all think they'd be good for?


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## Wags (Jun 2, 2002)

That's a good price! I'll have to check with the Winco's around here.

There shouldn't be any problem with them sitting for a few weeks before they go in the freezer. I've let mine go for a few months before getting around to putting them in the freezer without any obvious taste issues. (Only because I hide a bag of them from Costco so they wouldn't disappear so fast and then couldn't remember my super duper hiding place.)


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## bluemoonluck (Oct 28, 2008)

I'm not going to be "freezer-less" until mid-May..... so should I freeze them until then, take them out for those few weeks, then re-freeze them? I'm thinking that would cause more problems then just keeping them at room temp until June when I get to where I'm going, but IDK. 

Have I mentioned lately that moving cross country (again) makes keeping up with your preps a real PITA??


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## oregon woodsmok (Dec 19, 2010)

If they are kept dry, they are easily good for 6 months sitting in the cupboard. Whole almonds store well; the sliced ones go stale pretty quickly

I don't know that it is worth the moving space and cost to move them. When I move, I am trying to get rid of stuff, not buying more to take with me.

I'd use the money to buy an almond tree when I got to Virginia.


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## Deb862 (Jun 22, 2005)

http://www.stilltasty.com/fooditems/index/16343

I use this website alot to check on various foods.

ETA: Sorry, just noticed this only gave freezer/refrig times Dooo! They also usually give a "Pantry" shelf life too.


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## naturelover (Jun 6, 2006)

Okay, speaking as a professional chef here. I guess it would depend on how many pounds of almonds you plan to buy, when they were originally harvested and if they had been previously frozen. At a low price like that, that suggests to me that they were previously frozen and that makes my alarm bells go off. If they were previously frozen then the risk of them going rancid sooner at room temperatures is higher. 

If I was getting a lot of them and not knowing when they were originally harvested or if they were pre-frozen I wouldn't take a chance on them going rancid kept at room temperature because they have such a high oil content. I would either dry roast, oil roast or toast them - it only takes about 10 minutes to roast or toast each batch of almonds. Then I would feel more comfortable about keeping them at room temperature for any length of time after that before freezing them.

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The two primary ways to roast almonds. You can either dry roast them or employ an oil to brown the nuts. You can also dry pan roast or toast almonds with a shallow frying pan. 

*Dry Roasting Almonds *




To dry roast almonds:
Heat your oven to 350 degrees F.
Spread almonds on an ungreased cookie sheet.
Bake for approximately 10 minutes or until they are golden brown and fragrant. Note that because of their high oil content, the almonds will continue to roast after you remove them from the oven.
Check to make sure that a test almond has the proper crunch when bitten into. It should taste toasted, not bitter or burnt.
*Oil Roasting Almonds *


Heat oven to 350 degrees F
Cover an entire cookie sheet with aluminum foil and spread almonds on baking pan
With a brush spread canola oil over almonds
Bake for eight to 10 minutes, remove pan from oven and sprinkle with kosher salt or sea salt.
*Toasted Almonds *



To toast almonds you will need a shallow skillet, preferably not nonstick.
Add only enough almonds to the skillet so they lie in a single layer.
Turn heat on to medium and toast, stirring every once in awhile until the almond skins begin to slightly crackle and the nuts are fragrant.
Remove from heat and cool.
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