Right now all almonds grown in the USA are pasteurized and NOT raw. This is due to a federal mandate passed in 2007, see petition here. Since this has happened, many raw food companies started selling unpasteurized imported almonds from countries like Spain and Italy. Legally, if you are in California you can only buy raw almonds from farm stands but only in small quantities. At Living Nutz, we had formed a petition to help the Cornucopia Institute win the battle to make domestic almonds legal again. In addition to almonds, many people are not aware that pistachios and cashews are usually steam treated at high temperature to break the shells that contain the edible nut. While this not a federally mandated necessity, it is the method of choice by most processors. Living Nutz sources its certified organic pistachios and cashews from farmers that crack them open as opposed to steaming them.