Almond oil

Huile d’amande

What it is

For most of its history sweet almond oil was sold by pharmacists rather than grocers, pressed for skin and for infants long before it came back into the kitchen. It is not to be confused with bitter almond oil, which is a distillate, is used by the drop, and carries the almond smell that is really benzaldehyde.

In the kitchen

It burns low and turns rancid fast, so buy small, keep it cold and use it raw. Replace a fifth of the butter with it in a pastry cream, but cut it half and half with a neutral oil in a vinaigrette or it cloys.

Goes with

Apricot Peach Trout White asparagus Cherry Honey

Same species

Bergeron apricot Almond Almond flour Amardine Amarena cherry in syrup Apricot

Something wrong here, or missing? Tell us