The Fastest Way to Peel Almonds
You never thought this day would come. You want blanched almonds without the skin, and you need them now. You can run to the grocery store and pray for blanched almonds on the shelf, but what if it doesn’t? You can easily remove the skin from regular almonds at home in record time with a few common household items.
Blanching an almond is just like blanching anything else – you quickly drop it into boiling water. Whether you’re making homemade almond flour, almond butter, or marzipan, or you just can’t stand almond skins getting stuck between your teeth, you want almond pulp without its bitter, papery outer coating. The blanching process rehydrates the outer part of the almond, causing the brown skin to swell slightly. It also allows a small amount of water to penetrate between the skin and the almonds, making the inside slightly slippery. After a short dipping of about a minute, the nuts will be sufficiently blanched and the skins will be ripe for peeling. And if that sounds absurdly tedious, don’t worry—this step is relatively easy to do with the help of a kitchen towel.
How to Quickly Peel Almonds with a Kitchen Towel
Bring a small pot of water with a pinch of salt to a boil. Add a cup of whole raw almonds to the boiling water and stir gently for one minute. In the meantime, spread a clean kitchen or kitchen towel on the countertop. Turn off the heat and use a slotted spoon to scoop out the almonds onto a towel. Fold the towel over to cover them completely, and with both hands, firmly rub the almonds through the kitchen towel using brushing motions for about ten seconds. When you find almonds, most of them will be miraculously peeled. The kitchen towel trick works three times. You can handle hot almonds without burning or waiting for them to cool, the towel will dry out the excess water, and the brushing motions will further loosen the skin. This is so efficient that most of the batch will be processed in one step.
Any leftover almonds with the skin can be dealt with by pinching one side of the nut. When you take an almond, you will feel that the skin is baggy and loose, like a small almond sleeping bag. Squeeze one side and the nut will free itself from its cocoon. Pinch in the direction of the bowl or container, as you don’t want to launch almond shells all over the kitchen.
After removing the skin, let the almonds cool for at least 10 minutes before using them in a recipe. This blanching method is also suitable for peanuts and walnuts. (Walnuts have more crevices, so you may need to do a fine peel at the end, but most of the time the skin will still slip right off.)