Achill Island Sea Salt & Chocolate Almonds

This is a quick and simple treat that can be enjoyed on the go or perfect with a coffee. Use the best quality chocolate you can get your hands on, it’s noticeably better when it comes to flavour. We used a 74% Ecuadorian dark chocolate, hand crafted in West Cork by Milseán. A pinch of Achill Island Sea Salt over the chocolate gives a perfect finish to this little snack.

 For this recipe we chose to soak the almonds overnight, however if you don’t have time non-soaked almonds will work too. See our tips on soaking nuts below.  

  Ingredients

• 1 Pack of whole Almonds (150g)
• 40g of good quality Dark Chocolate
• Achill Island Sea Salt

Method:

1. Place the chocolate in a glass bowl and melt over a saucepan of simmering water. Alternatively place in the microwave, mixing each minute until the chocolate has melted.
2. Using a spoon, pour the chocolate over half of the almonds and place on a sheet of grease proof paper
3. Sprinkle a pinch of sea salt over each chocolate almond
4. Place the almonds in the fridge for 30 minutes or until the chocolate has set.
5. Remove from the fridge and enjoy

Soaking Nuts

Soaking nuts improves their nutritional value, and overall flavour and texture. Phosphorous in nuts is naturally stores as phytic acid and when it binds with minerals it becomes a phytate, which can often inhibit the absorption of important nutrients in the body. Phytic acid is present in many legumes such as beans and lentils which are also soaked before consumption to aid digestion.

The process is simple:  

• Add one table spoon of sea salt to 3-4 cups of warm water
• Add the almonds, ensuring they are fully submerged. Cover the bowl in cling film and leave on the counter top for 7-24 hours.
• Rinse the nuts and place on baking tray in the oven on low heat (150°C) until they are completely dry.
• Drying the nuts will give them a crunchy, crisp texture.

If you’re looking for some tasty activated (soaked) nuts on the go, check out NUTMOST’s products! This Irish company are the pros on all things nuts!!