4 ms·

Yeah this is a little disturbing. If I make almond milk at home I probably use a cup of almonds to make a quart of almond milk, the commercial stuff is probably

by pacaro 8y ago

Yeah this is a little disturbing. If I make almond milk at home I probably use a cup of almonds to make a quart of almond milk, the commercial stuff is probably less than a quarter of that. It’s a good example of where the numbers don’t make sense. If you look at the price of the product and the price of almonds something just doesn’t add up

grogenaut 8y ago
How are almonds processed for milk, how are they processed for consumption. If the latter requires a lot more handling then you may be wrong on the cost. Tho I Believe you things are not always obvious in industrial processes
- pacaro 8y ago
  Yeah, it’s hard to know what the bulk price of almonds is on the industrial scale, and given that “raw” almonds in the US have to have been pasteurized, they’ve already had some processing. Another analysis is to compare with soy milk. At a local wholefoods: 32oz Soy milk. $1.99 1lb Soy beans. $1.99 32oz Almond milk. $1.99 1lb Raw Almonds. $6.99 That doesn’t tell us where the problem is, any of these prices could be being artificially inflated, but it’s pretty damning.
- scythe 8y ago
  In order to make almond milk, almonds are ball-milled until the particle size reaches an average diameter of about 30 micrometers, which is fine enough to prevent a "grainy" feeling on the human tongue. If these ultrafine almond particles were to be suspended in water at a high enough concentration to mimic the thickness of milk, the resulting almond flavor would be overwhelming. This is described in the following patent: https://patents.google.com/patent/EP2476317A1/en https://patents.google.com/patent/EP2476317A1/en Instead, a small amount of ultrafine almond is suspended in water along with a tasteless long-chain polysaccharide, usually xanthan gum but occasionally other PS such as guar gum, psyllium mucilage or carob bean gum. Xanthan gum is the highest quality in any case. Source: I once considered trying to start a business around a tabletop ball mill for producing homemade nut milk, and similar assorted accessories. However, after some consideration, this is probably not viable. Fun fact: Hempseeds are extremely soft, and can be ground to an acceptable fineness by an ordinary blender. However, the resulting hemp milk has a strong flavor resembling undercooked eggplant. It may be suitable as a substitute for coconut in curries (not yet trialled).

by pacaro 8y ago

grogenaut 8y ago

How are almonds processed for milk, how are they processed for consumption. If the latter requires a lot more handling then you may be wrong on the cost. Tho I Believe you things are not always obvious in industrial processes

pacaro 8y ago
Yeah, it’s hard to know what the bulk price of almonds is on the industrial scale, and given that “raw” almonds in the US have to have been pasteurized, they’ve already had some processing. Another analysis is to compare with soy milk. At a local wholefoods: 32oz Soy milk. $1.99 1lb Soy beans. $1.99 32oz Almond milk. $1.99 1lb Raw Almonds. $6.99 That doesn’t tell us where the problem is, any of these prices could be being artificially inflated, but it’s pretty damning.
scythe 8y ago
In order to make almond milk, almonds are ball-milled until the particle size reaches an average diameter of about 30 micrometers, which is fine enough to prevent a "grainy" feeling on the human tongue. If these ultrafine almond particles were to be suspended in water at a high enough concentration to mimic the thickness of milk, the resulting almond flavor would be overwhelming. This is described in the following patent: https://patents.google.com/patent/EP2476317A1/en https://patents.google.com/patent/EP2476317A1/en Instead, a small amount of ultrafine almond is suspended in water along with a tasteless long-chain polysaccharide, usually xanthan gum but occasionally other PS such as guar gum, psyllium mucilage or carob bean gum. Xanthan gum is the highest quality in any case. Source: I once considered trying to start a business around a tabletop ball mill for producing homemade nut milk, and similar assorted accessories. However, after some consideration, this is probably not viable. Fun fact: Hempseeds are extremely soft, and can be ground to an acceptable fineness by an ordinary blender. However, the resulting hemp milk has a strong flavor resembling undercooked eggplant. It may be suitable as a substitute for coconut in curries (not yet trialled).