I buy and freeze whole almonds when they go on sale. I use them whole, chop them coarsely for things like bread and chop fine or food process them for things like pastries.
When I chop them by hand there are some large and small pieces. I assumed this was because of poor knife work so I practiced. Since the nuts are so hard it is almost impossible for me to get uniform sizes.
When I chop them in the food processor the pieces are uniform but too small for many applications.
What is the best way to take apart almonds so I can get uniform pieces? Slivered or sliced almonds would be the best if that is possible without industrial equipment.
Best Answer
I think on some level you'll just get what you get with something hard like an almond. A really really sharp knife with a thin blade can help, but you can only do so much. My hand-cut ones are always a bit on the raggedy side.
When using a food processor, try smaller batches to leave bigger or more consistent pieces. You don't have to pulse as long to get everything broken up, so you get less that's ground to nothing. Do a small batch for a short chop, dump 'em out, do another.
As to how to do slivered or sliced almonds, I always figured that they started with blanched almonds (which are less crisp in my experience) or maybe even raw ones and then roasted them after cutting to crisp them up. You might experiment with blanched or unroasted almonds and see if you get a better result with a knife.