Source · orchard

California almond orchard

San Joaquin Valley, California, US

Placeholder orchard entry — California's Central Valley produces about 80% of the world's almonds. Two weeks of pink-white blossom in February pollinated by 1.5 million migratory honeybee hives — the largest single managed-pollination event on Earth — leads to a single shaken-and-collected harvest in late summer. The water cost is real; the calorie return is enormous.

Almonds are native to the dry Mediterranean (Andalusia still grows the marcona prized in Spain), but the global commodity almond is overwhelmingly Californian. Both belong here. Marcona — small, plump, almost buttery — is the bar-snack almond; the California nonpareil is the universal cooking and confectionery almond, the one in marzipan, mole, romesco, and almond flour.