Nuts – Selecting the Best Nuts for Successful Home Oven-Roasting

I have gotten into the habit of buying raw or blanched or otherwise unroasted nuts from the local co-op in bulk and then oven-roasting or skillet-toasting on the fly for recipes. For most types of nuts it is either cost-saving or provides a tastier ingredient.

In the course of doing this I have picked up a nasty habit of digging into my baking stash and oven-roasting nuts for ~ten minutes at about 400'F (typically in a dash of extra oil, salt, red pepper, paprika, garlic, etc) for a quick snack. So far walnuts and pecans have yielded tremendous results.

Today I tried some raw almonds (whole, roasted) and was less than impressed. Typically, and especially with walnuts, they produce more oil and develop a lighter texture and the flavor becomes more pronounced. The almond meats remained pretty much the same in texture and flavor profile, and only picked up the oil that I had tossed them in.

I assume the lower change was due in no small part to the fact that they were previously roasted, however other nuts that had been previously roasted still had a flavor and texture change.

• Yet I am left wondering if there is perhaps a lower rate of return in making the effort to roast certain types of nuts. Is this the case?
  • For instance, will oilier nuts (i.e. brazils) produce better results when (re-)roasted?
• Also, is it possible that I may have selected poorly in terms of the nuts chosen.
  • For instance, would slivered have worked out better?
• Is it possible that pan-toasting versus oven-roasting would yield better results in certain scenarios?
• Is there a better temperature to be roasting at? I have tried 375'F-425'F and, with a watchful eye, had good results regardless of the spot in that range.