and soups Thanks to the tendency of the nut proteins to coagulate, cooks can thicken nut milks with acid into the equivalent of yogurt, and cook them into a cross between a pudding and custard Almonds with their high protein content produce the most easily thickened milk Other nut milks can be boiled to coagulate the proteins into curds, then the curds can be drained of excess fluid, blended until smooth, and heated gently to thicken them further To impart more flavor to the milk, a small fraction of the nuts can be roasted before grinding Characteristics of Some Common Nuts Almonds Almonds are the world’s largest tree-nut crop They’re the seed of a plum-like stone fruit, or drupe; the tree is a very close relative of the plum and peach There are several dozen wild or minor species, but the cultivated almond, Prunus amygdalus, came from western Asia and had been domesticated by the Bronze Age California is now the largest producer Thanks to their high content of antioxidant vitamin E and low levels of polyunsaturated fats, almonds have a relatively long shelf life Almonds are the main ingredient in marzipan, a paste of sugar and almonds finely ground together and molded and dried into decorative shapes, a Middle Eastern invention that became popular in Europe during the medieval Crusades Leonardo da Vinci made marzipan sculptures for the Milanese court of Ludovico Sforza in 1470, and wrote that he “observed with pain that [they] gobble up all the sculptures I give them, right to the last morsel.” Almond paste is also commonly used as a pastry filling or the base for macaroons, cookies whose only other structural ingredient is egg whites  ... of antioxidant vitamin E and low levels of polyunsaturated fats, almonds have a relatively long shelf life Almonds are the main ingredient in marzipan, a paste of sugar and almonds finely ground together and molded and dried into... “observed with pain that [they] gobble up all the sculptures I give them, right to the last morsel.” Almond paste is also commonly used as a pastry filling or the base for macaroons, cookies whose only other structural ingredient...cultivated almond, Prunus amygdalus, came from western Asia and had been domesticated by the Bronze Age California is now the largest producer Thanks to their high content of antioxidant vitamin E and low levels of