Almonds Are Members of the Peach Family

While you might not see the family resemblance at first glance, the almond is botanically a close relative of the peach, and also the plum and cherry. All belong to the genus *Prunus*. The key difference that separates them lies in the fruit (Review) that surrounds the seed. With a peach, we eat the fleshy, juicy outer layer, called the mesocarp, and discard the hard pit, or endocarp, which contains the seed. The almond fruit, however, has a tough, leathery, and inedible hull that is not fleshy. This outer covering dries and splits open upon ripening, revealing the familiar almond shell, which is the endocarp. The part of the almond that we eat is the seed from inside this shell.

This close genetic relationship means the almond fruit looks much like a young, green peach. Both almonds and peaches are classified as drupes, which are fruits with a hard, stony covering over the seed. The primary distinction is that one was cultivated for its delicious outer fruit and the other for its edible seed. This evolutionary divergence likely happened millions of years ago, with a common ancestor originating in Asia.

The history of the almond is long and rich, with evidence of its cultivation dating back to the Early Bronze Age (3000–2000 BCE) in the Middle (Review) East. Almonds were one of the earliest domesticated fruit trees and were found in the tomb of Tutankhamun in Egypt, likely imported from the Levant. Their cultivation spread along the shores of the Mediterranean, and they were valued by ancient civilizations. The Romans, for instance, showered newlyweds with almonds as a fertility charm. This ancient heritage underscores the almond's long-standing importance, not as a nut, but as the seed of a unique, peach-like fruit.