Old Growth Almond Trees

At Anderson Almonds, we like to think about food the way Michael Pollan suggests: “Don’t eat anything your great-great-grandmother wouldn’t recognize as food.”

Well, if your great-great-grandmother wandered into one of our orchards, she’d nod approvingly. She’d recognize these almonds. She might even say, “Now that’s food.”

Our family orchards still have some of the original old growth almond trees - the ones that stood tall before food became engineered in laboratories, before “snack packs” and “energy bars” tried to convince us they were the real thing. These trees are the Hemingway characters of the almond world: weathered, resilient, imperfect, but full of truth.

So Dad and our brother Loren came up with a line. It’s not polished marketing. It’s not going to win awards for sales copy. But it feels honest, and maybe even a little funny:

“Eat like your ancestors. Old growth almonds - get them before they go extinct.”

Assessing the bloom in Spring.

And now we're busy preparing for our 2025 harvest. It looks like a great crop this year.

We know, it sounds a little dramatic. But so did Hemingway sometimes. Imagine a short film: Dad, playing the role of a stubborn old man, leaning against the gnarled trunk of one of those original trees. The wind blows. He mutters something about the young replants never knowing what it was like to survive the hard seasons. And then he cracks open an almond, bites it, and nods.

Would it sell almonds? Maybe. Would it go viral? Probably - especially if 90 year old Dad nails his impression of an old man and the trees (get it - trees instead of the sea?).

Either way, it’s true: when you eat an Anderson almond, you’re eating a piece of history. You’re eating food your ancestors would recognize. And you’re carrying forward a tradition that might not last forever.

So come taste the story. The almonds are still here and ready for a new harvest soon.