Almonds (bitter as well as sweet) contain about 50% of a fatty oil, which is, though, too expensive to be used for cooking. It is made up of glycerides (80% oleic acid, 15% linoleic acid, 5% palmitic acid).

Bitter almonds contain 3 to 5% amygdalin, a so-called cyanogenic glycoside composed of mandelic nitrile and gentobiose. Vegetative parts of the almond tree accumulate the analogous prunasin (with glucose as sugar component).

On enzymatical hydrolysis of these glycosides by β-glucosidases, the aglycon mandelic nitrile (2-hydroxy-3-phenylacetonitrile) is liberated. A second enzyme (mandelonitrile lyase) converts mandelic nitrile quickly to benzaldehyd (C6H5-CHO) and hydrocyanic acid (HCN, also known as prussic acid). By chance, both compounds are olfactorily similar, but hydrocyanic acid is highly toxic; bitter almonds’ value as a spice is only due to the benzaldehyd.
Almond flower

Hydrocyanic acid is a dangerous poison (about one twentieth of a gram is considered lethal for an adult), but it is also very volatile and susceptible to hydrolysis at higher temperatures. Therefore, significant amounts of hydrocyanic acid are highly unlikely to accumulate in any dish prepared with bitter almonds. On the other side, incorporation of whole raw bitter almonds is fairly dangerous because, in this case, all of its hydrocyanic acid is formed in one’s stomach. Serious poisoning is quite rare with adults, but children may be killed by just a few bitter almonds. Very similar warnings hold for other plants of the genus Prunus, the kernels of which all contain amygdalin: Peach, apricot and, to a lesser extent, cherry and plum. One kernel of bitter almond yields about one milligram of hydrocyanic acid.

It should be noted that bitter almonds can only develop their aroma if both water and the necessary enzymes are present. The two enzymes (called together emulsin) are desactivated by heat; thus, bitter almonds must never be fried nor roasted, for they will not develop almond aroma afterwards.

Sweet almonds are, by centuries of cultivation and breeding, very low in amygdalin and, thus, harmless; however, even sweet almond trees sometimes yield single bitter almonds (up to 1% of total crop), and some sweet almond cultivars still contain traces of bitter almond aroma. This does not apply to Californian almonds, which can be regarded totally destitute of amygdalin.

Principally, sweet and bitter almonds are very different products and can never substitute each other.

Source: Gernot Katzer’s Spice Dictionary

The fact that a believer is happier than a skeptic is no more to the point than the fact that a drunken man is happier than a sober one.
-George Bernard Shaw, writer, Nobel laureate (1856-1950)

Power is of two kinds. One is obtained by the fear of punishment and the other by acts of love. Power based on love is a thousand times more effective and permanent then the one derived from fear of punishment.
-Mahatma Gandhi (1869-1948)

The trouble with the world is that the stupid are cocksure and the intelligent are full of doubt.
-Bertrand Russell, philosopher, mathematician, and author (1872-1970)

Money may be the husk of many things but not the kernel. It brings you food, but not appetite; medicine, but not health; acquaintance, but not friends; servants, but not loyalty; days of joy, but not peace or happiness.
-Henrik Ibsen, playwright (1828-1906)

Dnes som dostal mily mail v ktorom bolo toto:

Žil raz jeden malý chlapec, ktorý mal veľmi zlú povahu. Otec mu dal vrecko klincov a povedal mu, že vždy, keď sa nahnevá, nech zatlčie jeden klinec do plota vzadu za domom.

Prvý deň chlapec zatĺkol do plota 37 klincov. Za niekoľko týždňov sa naučil kontrolovať svoj hnev a počet zatlčených klincov sa postupne znižoval. Zistil, že je jednoduchšie ovládať zlosť ako zatĺkať klince do plota.

Nakoniec prišiel ten deň, keď sa chlapec ani raz nenahneval.
Povedal to otcovi a otec mu navrhol, aby teraz chlapec vytiahol vždy jeden klinec, keď sa za cely deň ani raz nenahnevá. Dni sa míňali a chlapec po čase mohol povedať otcovi, že v plote nezostal ani jeden klinec.

Vtedy zobral otec chlapca za ruku a zaviedol ho k plotu. Tam mu povedal:
“Urobil si dobre, chlapče, ale pozri sa na diery v plote. Ten plot už nikdy nebude taký, aký bol. Keď povieš niečo v hneve, tak to zanechá pravé takéto jazvy. Ako keď zabodneš do človeka nôž a vytiahneš ho. Nezáleží na tom koľkokrát povieš ľutujem, rana stále zostava. Rana spôsobená slovom boli rovnako ako fyzický úder.

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