I just visited some new raw friends in Chico, CA over the weekend and attended their raw potluck.

Both of my friends grew up on family walnut and almond farms. The new regulations didn't seem to be of concern to them. I was told that growers are free to sell their unpasteurized shelled almonds in amounts of 99 pounds per buyer per day. Can anyone else corroborate this from other sources? I don't doubt what my friend says is true, I'm just wondering about the free flow of information to the end consumers.

99 pounds per buyer per day means to me that getting a supply of truly raw almonds won't be very hard .... if you know where to look for them.

I became suspicious that some retail sellers of raw almonds catering to raw foodists might use the hysteria that was whipped up by the new pasteurization regulations as a marketing ploy to boost their sales and raise prices.

Thankfully this isn't such a huge issue for most long term raw people who eat a low fat - high fruit diet. Nuts usually become a small or insignificant part of their diet. However, I can see why people in transition to raw would be concerned.

Hi uti,

I think the way it works is that unpasteurized almonds can be purchased, as long as the buyer actually goes to the farm to purchase the almonds or purchases the almonds at a road-side stand owned and/or operated by the grower.

Once they've been purchased directly from the grower, the almonds cannot legally be resold unless they've been pasteurized.

I don't believe almonds grown in the US can be purchased from a retailer(like a health food or grocery store) or through the mail unless they've been pasteurized. There's one site - D & H Ranches - that claims to sell NONorganic unpasteurized almonds through the mail. I emailed them and asked them how they manage to get around the law. They replied that they couldn't give me an answer, but they'd let me know when the owner returned. That was on October 23, and I haven't heard back from them.

Unpasteurized organic almonds from sources OUTSIDE the US can be legally purchased through the mail. One site is Livingnutz (207-780-1101). Another is nutsonline.com (800-558-6887).



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 11/13/2007 09:55PM by suncloud.

the only regulations that there should be on our foods is to keep the chems and processes OUT!

I wholeheartedly agree Jen! Pretty twisted society we have here.

What are some possible illegal almond scenarios?:

Maybe there will be a black market for truly raw almonds,

And maybe the feds will get to confiscate your home/business as a place where you engaged in criminal activity (selling illegal almonds),

And you'll be doing time for being an illegal almond dealer,

And living in a half-way house or entering rehab for a truly raw almond addiction.

"Honest officer, I FOUND these almonds in a bag at the dump."

"Tell it to the judge!"



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 11/14/2007 05:41AM by suncloud.

Are we going to overcrowd our prisons with illegal raw almond dealers? LOL!!

In the fall issue of Purely Delicious magazine there is an article that states:

"The only exception to this policy is small amounts of almonds sold direct from a farm stand to a private individual."

BaSTARDS!

How come noone noticed before that "raw" cashews, are not raw, either.

I stay away from nuts unless I have a tree around me.

All these nuts you have to sprout to eat, pretty much and pine nuts do not sprout.

Why dont people eat raw nuts in shell and open them up themselves?

Can you get unpasteurized shelled almonds? I don't know.

Maybe if it is winter and I live where there are no airplanes to bring me fruit, I will consider nuts. They are too heavy for me to eat daily.

So what are the SAFE NUTS

I say sunflower, hemp, shelled nuts, organic mac nuts, sesame, ..and?

Brazil nuts always look bad, in supermarkets I do not even think those are raw but old.

Uti.. yes that's the regulation... and you technically have to go to the farm and buy them, so if you live in California where most o the world's almonds come from then yeah it would be a cinch to get them.

If not then you have to come up with something else.

Suvine.. yeah you can get raw almonds... completely unpasteurized.

I buy my almonds online from raw foodists...organic and unpasteurized. They have a disclaimer--but that is it. I have not had any difficulty getting raw nuts at all.

>>>I buy my almonds online from raw foodists...organic and unpasteurized. They have a disclaimer--but that is it. I have not had any difficulty getting raw nuts at all.<<<<

Me too.

pakd4fun Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> >>>I buy my almonds online from raw
> foodists...organic and unpasteurized. They have a
> disclaimer--but that is it. I have not had any
> difficulty getting raw nuts at all.<<<<
>
> Me too.

i'm in california and i've contacted a couple of semi-local farmers (1-2 hours away) who've said they would ship to me. they both wanted to sell 25lbs of almonds at a time, at $8/lb, so $200. so far i'm still just buying at the farmer's markets since i don't know if i'm ready to commit to 25lbs of almonds!

emily

25 lbs. is a lot of almonds. I pay $12.00 a pound but there is no minimum. $8.oo is a good price if they are organic. If you are single I would think 25 lbs. would take forever to eat.

You might want to buy those almonds cooperatively, that is, ask your raw food friends if they would like to buy a portion of the 25 pounds at the $8/lb plus shipping. This way, you don't have to eat so many almonds.