Nutritional values in home made almond milk

mdezzy
mdezzy Posts: 11 Member
edited November 18 in Food and Nutrition
I have just started making my own almond milk and I will never go back! The only problem I have is that it is nearly impossible to find reliable nutritional values (calories, protein, carb, fat, fiber). Even in the MFP database the many entries for home made raw almond milk vary widely. I have googled it endlessly and gotten different information all over the place. Hard to know how to count my smoothies anymore! The most logical source I found was this article http://smallbites.andybellatti.com/you-ask-i-answer-nutritional-content-of-almond-milk/ . I soak 1 cup of raw unpasturized organic almonds and add 4 cups of filtered water before blending and straining through a nut bag. According to the article above a cup using my 4:1 ratio would have about 82 calories and 8 grams of fat. One of the entries in the MFP DB with a 6:1 ratio has 118 calories and 10 grams of fat - since it contains more water I would expect the calories to be less not more (and the article I cited has a 6:1 ratio almond milk at 55 calories and 5 grams of fat. I have seen numbers 2 to 3 times that. Makes my head spin. The variations like I said are endless......

I am very curious what others have to say or what your experience/thoughts are. I am hoping for a scientific answer! Given the low calorie counts on the store bough brands, you have to realize how low the almond count must be and the impact of the thickening agents.....

Replies

  • SnuggleSmacks
    SnuggleSmacks Posts: 3,731 Member
    Weigh your almonds. Since water has no calories, the batch would only have the calories of the almonds. Divide those calories by the number of servings you made. That's your calories per serving. If there's no entry for that, make one.
  • MireyGal76
    MireyGal76 Posts: 7,334 Member
    maybe this is too simple... but if you weigh the almonds before blending with the milk, and then weigh the dredge after, couldn't you then use the net difference in weights/ nutritional breakdown for the raw almonds.

    example:

    if 50g of almonds is 330cals
    and after straining, you have 5g of almond dredge left over
    then you would be drinking 45g of almonds (and water)... therefore 90% (45/50*100) of the calories of the dry almonds. (330*.9 = 293)

    Yeah.. maybe that IS too simple... but possibly just as logical as all the other wonky calcs out there.

    *note: all my numbers are guesses, just used for example
  • mdezzy
    mdezzy Posts: 11 Member
    That sounds logical. The article I cited in my original post did just that - not by weight - but similar concept. It made sense to me. Here was their method: 1) Look up nutritional information for whatever amounts of almonds you put into blender (i.e.: 1 cup)
    2) Measure how much almond meal is left at end of process. (after straining)
    3) Look up nutritional information for that amount of almond meal, keeping in mind that since there is some water in that meal, figures are going to be slightly lower (ie: 1 cup of almond pulp may be 80% meal and 20% water or so).
    4) Subtract nutritional values of almond meal from whole almonds and, voila, you have estimated nutrition facts for your homemade batch!
  • MireyGal76
    MireyGal76 Posts: 7,334 Member
    mdezzy wrote: »
    That sounds logical. The article I cited in my original post did just that - not by weight - but similar concept. It made sense to me. Here was their method: 1) Look up nutritional information for whatever amounts of almonds you put into blender (i.e.: 1 cup)
    2) Measure how much almond meal is left at end of process. (after straining)
    3) Look up nutritional information for that amount of almond meal, keeping in mind that since there is some water in that meal, figures are going to be slightly lower (ie: 1 cup of almond pulp may be 80% meal and 20% water or so).
    4) Subtract nutritional values of almond meal from whole almonds and, voila, you have estimated nutrition facts for your homemade batch!

    if you're patient... you could wait until it dries

    but...

    really... is it worth all that effort?
  • mdezzy
    mdezzy Posts: 11 Member
    edited May 2015
    Point well taken :smile: I am happy to come up with a "pretty good" estimate. What was throwing me off was all the wild variations out there.
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