Almond is a shrub or more typically a tree that grows 4 to 12 m in height. It originates in the regions from India to Asia Minor. It was introduced to the Mediterranean in the times of antiquity and later to North America. Both regions are the leading producers of almond today. Sweet almond bears edible fruit with a sweetish taste, while the fruit of bitter almond is bitter.
Botanical characteristics: bark reddish; leaves dark green, lanceolate, acuminate; flowers with 5 petals, 3 to 5 cm in diameter, pink in bitter almond, white in sweet almond; fruits botanically termed drupes, oblong, up to 6 cm long, exocarp greyish green, pubescent, endocarp hard, with 1 seed.

Almond seeds contain approximately 50% oil, which is among the richest sources of oleic acid in triglycerides. Also considerably high is its content of linoleic acid, while saturated palmitic and stearic acids are present in minor amounts. Almond oil is oxidatively unstable. It has a light-yellow colour and a weak, sweetish-nutty odour. It is cold-pressed from bitter as well as sweet almond.

Source: Modern Cosmetics - Dr. Damjan Janeš and Dr. Nina Kočevar Glavač

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