Almond is the name of the edible seed produced by the almond tree (botanical name Prunus dulcis), an approximately 10 m tall plant belonging to the Rosaceae family.
The almond tree produces drupe-like fruits, oval and compressed in shape, which, when fully ripe, release an oblong stone (woody endocarp) hitherto contained in the pulp (mesocarp). Inside this fleshy shell, enclosed in a hard shell, are one or two sweet oily seeds: almonds.
‘Almond’ is also the term used for all seeds that have the same characteristics (as peach, apricot, cherry, etc.).

Almonds are foods that belong to the group of oilseeds, vulgarly called ‘nuts’. In the classification of the 7 basic food groups, oilseeds are not clearly and distinctly classified. This is because although they are seeds, they are low in starch and do not belong to the set of cereals and legumes, and although they are fruits, they are low in water, fructose, vitamin A and C and do not belong to the set of fleshy sweet fruits.
On the contrary, they contain a lot of fat and little water.