Almonds

Nonpareil, Independence, Carmel & Mamra by count per ounce

Almonds are contracted on two axes that buyers routinely conflate: variety type and count per ounce. Variety sets the shape, skin and how the kernel behaves — Nonpareil is the flat, smooth-skinned, thin-shelled premium type that blanches and slices cleanly and is what you specify when the kernel is visible; Independence is a self-fertile Nonpareil-type that has taken over new Californian plantings and delivers close appearance at a lower cost; Carmel sits in the California type group with a wrinklier skin, well suited to roasting, coating and grinding where appearance does not carry; and Mamra from Iran and Afghanistan is a genuinely different product — small, dense, high-oil, hand-cracked, sold at a large premium into South Asian and Middle Eastern gifting and ayurvedic demand rather than competing with Californian pool material at all. Count per ounce is the size language on top of variety: 18/20 and 20/22 are the bold counts, 23/25 and 25/27 are the mainstream sizes, 27/30 and 30/32 are small and price lower. Fewer nuts to the ounce means a bigger kernel and a higher price.

What you are actually deciding is whether appearance survives your process. Nonpareil 20/22 in a retail nut pack, on a chocolate bar or in a blanched slivered line earns its premium because every kernel is seen. The same nut in almond flour, marzipan, praline, almond milk or a coated snack is money burned — Carmel, California-type pool material or even shelled seconds do the identical job. CBIL arranges Californian supply alongside Australian, Spanish and Iranian/Afghan Mamra, with SGS or Intertek certification of count per ounce, moisture at ≤ 6%, chipped-and-scratched and doubles percentage, foreign matter, aflatoxin, and — where the destination requires it — pasteurisation status, since the US mandates a validated pasteurisation step for almonds sold domestically and many EU buyers now specify it too. Aflatoxin again splits the market: EU limits for direct-consumption nuts sit at 2 ppb B1 / 4 ppb total against roughly 15 ppb total elsewhere, and we write the limit to your destination. Kernels ship in 22.68 kg (50 lb) cartons, vacuum packs and nitrogen-flushed formats, container-load, on FOB, CFR and CIF terms.