The blossom of the almond trees in Puglia, between the end of February and March, is a show of nature and they give a variety of colours from pure white to different shades of pink.
You can just take a walk in the suburbs or drive along the countryside of our towns in order to admire them in all their unique beauty and let yourself be enchanted by the suggestive spring landscape they create.
It’s not rare to see them flourish by the early February, especially if the temperatures have been mild, but this is a very dangerous condition for cultivation of almond groves, as with fruit trees in general, as a sudden drop in temperatures could seriously harm the blooming process, with a consequent negative impact in the economy of the Apulian agriculture.
Almond trees have very ancient origins, they were imported from the Asian countries in the Mediterranean area by the Greeks thousands years ago and continued to be exchanged in trade over centuries.
In Puglia we can count several varieties of almond trees including the most popular Falsa Barese, Filippo Ceo, Genco and Tuono.
Almonds are usually harvested between September and October and they are prepared in the Apulian cuisine in a multiple ways: almonds can be simply eaten as dried fruit, sugary or roasted and salted, can be used to make almonds paste sweets, very typical in the pastry of Puglia, such as mostaccioli and the biscuit of Ceglie, to make confetti or nougat, or as almond milk drink, alcoholic or not.
The almonds of Toritto, a small town in province of Bari, have become very famous and been recognized as slow food presidium, and they are considered among the most exquisite on the market.
Almonds can be employed in various fields, as they have wealthy energetic properties and therapeutic qualities, from the medicine to the cosmetics industry, for example.
viaggieitinerari... in Puglia by Valeria Dicarlo 