First of all, I've given up posting on this smoking meat forum after getting one too many "call outs" from the food police, like the one I responded to in my
final post a month ago. 99% of the people on this forum are absolutely wonderful, which is why I've made 2,000+ posts and stayed here for three years, but there are a few that have caused me problems.
Other than this one mention I have not made any comment about this, privately or publicly, and plan to say nothing further.
However, since I started this particular thread and since I got a notice that there had been activity, let me answer your question, and then go away again.
The JD is completely useless in this recipe, so you can skip it without missing anything. The reason I even mentioned it was that when I was doing my original almond smokes using the sugar-based recipes (the ones that got so sticky), the JD added quite a bit of good flavor to that sugar mixture, and came through nicely in the final product. I don't entirely understand the chemistry of what that happens with sugar, but not with my sugarless recipe, but it does.
So, in my simple recipe, I have found that the only thing that "sticks" to the nuts is the smoke and salt. The JD gets lost.
I have not tried my recipe with any other nuts but, to my taste, I think walnuts or pecans would need some sort of sugar or something similar, in order to taste right.
What I'd recommend is that if you want to try other nuts, just take a little of the water/salt mixture you are using for the almonds, and soak various other nuts in it. Then, smoke those nuts at the same time you do your almonds.