I used up the last of my store-bought almond milk today and took a look at the ingredient list.

From the box of Almond Breeze^®, original:

purified water, evaporated cane juice, almonds, tricalcium phosphate, sea salt, potassium citrate, carrageenan, soy lecithin.

The website (a U.S. website for the company based in Sacramento CA) lists the following ingredients as well: Dalpha- tocopherol (natural vitamin e), vitamin a palmitate, vitamin d2.

Not bad, actually. Let’s see what Wikipedia has to say about some of these ingredients, shall we?

Tricalcium phosphate is generally used in powdered spices as an anti-caking agent, rising agent and nutritional supplement. I’m guessing that here it is the added calcium, 20% Daily Value per 1 cup (240mL) serving.

Potassium citrate “may be used to control kidney stones due to either uric acid or cystine.” “effective in reducing the pain and frequency of micturition when these are caused by highly acidic urine.” “an effective way to treat/manage gout and arrhythmia,” “widely used to treat urinary calculi (kidney stones), and is often used by patients with cystinuria.” “also used in many soft drinks as a buffering agent.”

I guess in this case it’s the buffering agent, which “adjusts the pH of a solution.” I’d like to know why almond milk needs a buffering agent. Anyone know?

Carrageenan: Now here’s one that I know about. Without looking it up, I can tell you that  it’s a thickener. Sea vegetable based, I think.

Soy lecithin: An emulsifier. Again, this is something I know.

Evaporated cane juice: A sweetener

The other ingredients are vitamins. .

The Blue Diamond/Almond Breeze has nutritional information on their website.

The empty carton in front of me indicates 10% Daily Value of vitamin E, 0% vitamin A (though the American website indicates a vitamin A additive), 2% iron, 10% phosphorus (from the tricalcium phosphate or naturally occurring?) and 6% magnesium.

What’s in home made almond milk?

Almonds, water, and sweetener such as dates. I used hazelnut flavoured agave nectar as sweetener yesterday.

1 cup (143g) of whole almonds is rich in protein, containing an equal amount of protein and carbohydrate, which is mostly fiber. Almonds are high in monounsaturated fat and contain some polyunsaturated fats. They’re high in Vitamin E, magnesium, copper and phosphorus, have a huge amount of manganese and contain a fair bit of of calcium and iron

I know that the nutrition of almonds and the nutrition of almond milk aren’t the same because most of the almond is left behind in the processing. I don’t know if any nutrients – and how much – is present in the resulted liquid. I’d be interested to find out, though. Does anyone know? I tried finding the information but a misleading headline gave me nutritional information for almonds, not almond milk.

Finally, of course one cup of liquid is not equivalent to one cup of nuts. This isn’t really an accurate comparison (I guess you could say it’s a “diluted comparison” if you like plays on words) but it’s an interesting one. I did the research because I’m a nerd like that.

Additional reading:

• NutritionData
• WHFoods: Does packaged almond milk provide the same health benefits as whole almonds?

Eat well, be well,
Canadianfoodiegirl.