Prunus is a large genus in the Rosaceae family with more than 200 species. Prunus dulcis is among the three most economically important of the domesticated species.
Domestication of almond trees occurred in the Fertile Crescent, about 5,000 years ago. Almond consumption is documented in Asian communities, two to three thousand years ago. Dispersion from the Mediterranean basin is likely to have followed the Silk Road.
Expansion into Western Europe and North Africa followed ancestral trade routes. For instance, a Greco-Persian ship, whose wreck dates to the middle of the 4th century BC and its cargo were found by archaeologists in the 1960s, off the northern coast of Cyprus. It carried large amounts of cultivated almonds. Many texts from Greek and Roman sources in the Antiquity document indeed the beneficial medicinal uses of almonds.
And now? California leads the world in almond production: 1 billion kg. of almonds a year, over 80% of the world total! But there is a down side, contamination with soil-borne pathogens such as Salmonella and Escherichia coli. Selection during crop domestication for desirable traits such as large, non-bitter seed and uniform harvest to facilitate cultivation has caused loss of genetic diversity. Unsurprisingly, food safety threats rather than being an
inherent hazard of the crop are rather a consequence of current production practices. Accordingly, Thomas M. Gradziel, a professor at the University of California Davis, urges an heroic enterprise, viz. redoing the domestication process, using the available germplasm.
A remarkable feature of the almond tree is its time of flowering, as early as February — heralding the arrival of spring. Many texts mention it. I’ll mention only two, the Book of Jeramiah (between 630 and 580 BC) and a poem by the twentieth century French poet and leader in the Resistance, René Char (1907-1988).
The Book of Jeremiah mentions the almond flower, God resorting to the almond tree as a symbol of his watchfulness. Let me quote: “The word of the Lord came to me: ‘What do you see, Jeremiah?’ ‘I see the branch of an almond tree’, I replied. » In Hebrew, the word is not just a ‘branch‘ as translated above, but a ‘dry branch’ . The almond tree, during fall and winter, is bare. Hence, it is difficult to distinguish between a dry branch of an almond tree and a dry
branch of any other tree. Jeremiah however makes the distinction. Thus God compliments him with: “You have seen well”! And the Lord continues: “for I am ready to perform My word”. Jeremiah here puns on words : Almond in Hebrew is shaqed and to be diligent is: shoqed.
René Char, who lived in the Provence and to whom the sight of flowering almond trees in February was a familiar sight, wrote « Sur les amandiers au printemps / Ruissellent vieillesse et jeunesse. » (in spring on almond trees / flow old age and youth). Which can be taken as an adequate summary of this whole present piece.
My first marriage was in February 1962. Janine, a friend of ours who lived in the Provence, mailed us a bunch of almond tree branches, with their snow-white flowers: it was such a lovely wedding gift!