A Taste Test

• Roasting, or toasting, changes the flavor of almonds. When raw, almonds taste delicate, mild and slightly sweet or milky. Toasting intensifies the flavors, giving them a nuttier taste. The more you toast the almonds and the darker they become, the more the flavor intensifies. Sliced or slivered almonds toast lightly in just a few minutes in a 350-degree Fahrenheit oven, while whole almonds take about 7 minutes.

Crunchy Roasted Almonds

• A crisp and crunchy texture gives roasted almonds an advantage over raw almonds, which have a chewy, somewhat soft, texture. Not only is a crunch more of an expected and satisfying sensation when you eat almonds as a snack, but it also makes the toasted almonds useful in contrasting with soft foods -- think of chopped or slivered almonds topping ice cream or giving a crisp coating to fried trout. Whole roasted almonds bring the same crunch and contrast to green salads, coleslaw or Asian salads.

Putting Both Almonds to Good Use

• While roasted almonds bring more crunch and flavor to food, the raw nuts work well when you don't need or want strong flavors or intense crunchiness. Raw almonds work as well as toasted almonds for grinding into flour to use for pastry crusts, blending into smoothies or processing in your food processor for mild-tasting almond butter to replace peanut butter.

Good for You

• Richer in calcium and vitamin E than other nuts, both raw and roasted almonds also contain fiber, folic acid, and plenty of important minerals. Like other nuts, both types of almonds lower "bad" cholesterol and increase "good " cholesterol. While the nuts contain lots of calories, at least one study, conducted in 2007 and reported in the journal "Obesity," found that people who ate nuts were less likely to gain weight than those who didn't.

Storage for Safety and Taste

• Because both raw and roasted almonds have high fat content, the fats may turn rancid within as little as two weeks once a package of nuts is opened and stored at room temperature. Roasted nuts are more susceptible to turning rancid than raw nuts. If you keep either nut in the refrigerator, the shelf life extends to about four weeks, and storage in the freezer extends shelf life to two years.