Nutritional content of home-made almond milk

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oat_bran
oat_bran Posts: 370 Member
edited July 2018 in Health and Weight Loss
I want to make my own almond milk but it seems kind of tricky to calculate the nutritional content of the final product.

If you make your own nut milks, could you share your method of estimating the nutritional information?

I guess I could weight the dry almonds first, then weight them after soaking. Then weight the leftover pulp and subtract that from the soaked almonds' weight. However, I'm not sure that the moisture content of the squeezed pulp would be the same as of that of soaked almonds, not to mention that I'm pretty sure the nutrients are not split equally between the pump and what goes into the emulsion of almonds and water. My guess is that the pump has more fiber, while the milk has more fat which could affect the calories by a lot.

Replies

  • mywayroche
    mywayroche Posts: 218 Member
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    It would vary based on method. If you're overly concerned then there's nothing wrong with store bought and it's all made in a consistent way so the packaging information is accurate
  • oat_bran
    oat_bran Posts: 370 Member
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    mywayroche wrote: »
    It would vary based on method. If you're overly concerned then there's nothing wrong with store bought and it's all made in a consistent way so the packaging information is accurate

    Home-made almond milk is much MUCH cheaper and I get to control the almond to water ratio and what and how much of other ingredients I put in there. And I know it would vary depending on the almond to water ratio etc. which is why I want to know how to calculate the nutritional content, not the content itself.
  • mywayroche
    mywayroche Posts: 218 Member
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    The nutritional content of pulp vs product will vary based on the exact method used; this includes variables such as temperature, time and pressure. Hopefully someone will give you a decent estimate.
  • lynn_glenmont
    lynn_glenmont Posts: 9,994 Member
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    janejellyroll wrote: »
    Here is what I do: I make the recipe for the milk including all the nuts. I then save my pulp and add it to things like smoothies, baked goods, and sauces without logging it. This means that my logging may not be accurate within a specific day, but I know that it will be accurate over time.

    I don't think this would work for everyone, but it seems to work well for me.

    @janejellyroll
    Just curious -- have you tried making nut butter from the pulp? If so, were the results satisfactory?
  • janejellyroll
    janejellyroll Posts: 25,763 Member
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    lynn_glenmont wrote: »
    janejellyroll wrote: »
    Here is what I do: I make the recipe for the milk including all the nuts. I then save my pulp and add it to things like smoothies, baked goods, and sauces without logging it. This means that my logging may not be accurate within a specific day, but I know that it will be accurate over time.

    I don't think this would work for everyone, but it seems to work well for me.

    @janejellyroll
    Just curious -- have you tried making nut butter from the pulp? If so, were the results satisfactory?

    I tried once and it just never got creamy -- I think too much fat was extracted from the nuts. What's left is more like a fine paste. I think it possibly could work if you mixed it with other nuts, but I haven't tried that.
  • oat_bran
    oat_bran Posts: 370 Member
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    janejellyroll wrote: »
    Here is what I do: I make the recipe for the milk including all the nuts. I then save my pulp and add it to things like smoothies, baked goods, and sauces without logging it. This means that my logging may not be accurate within a specific day, but I know that it will be accurate over time.

    I don't think this would work for everyone, but it seems to work well for me.

    Hmm, this is interesting. I was actually planning to use the pulp instead of throwing it away, but I didn't realize that that should even out the results over time. I think I'll just go with subtracting the pump weight to figure out how much almonds stayed in the milk and then just use the dried pulp counting it as almonds, too, and it should even out in the end.
  • oat_bran
    oat_bran Posts: 370 Member
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    lynn_glenmont wrote: »
    janejellyroll wrote: »
    Here is what I do: I make the recipe for the milk including all the nuts. I then save my pulp and add it to things like smoothies, baked goods, and sauces without logging it. This means that my logging may not be accurate within a specific day, but I know that it will be accurate over time.

    I don't think this would work for everyone, but it seems to work well for me.

    @janejellyroll
    Just curious -- have you tried making nut butter from the pulp? If so, were the results satisfactory?

    I haven't tried making nut butter with the pulp before, but from my previous experiences the dried pulp is very different from the ground-up almonds. It appears much much drier. Which is why I think a lot of the fat goes into the milk while a lot of the fiber content stays in the pulp. So I really doubt you can make nut butter from the dried pulp (and most certainly not from the wet pulp) without adding extra oil.
  • lynn_glenmont
    lynn_glenmont Posts: 9,994 Member
    edited July 2018
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    janejellyroll wrote: »
    lynn_glenmont wrote: »
    janejellyroll wrote: »
    Here is what I do: I make the recipe for the milk including all the nuts. I then save my pulp and add it to things like smoothies, baked goods, and sauces without logging it. This means that my logging may not be accurate within a specific day, but I know that it will be accurate over time.

    I don't think this would work for everyone, but it seems to work well for me.

    @janejellyroll
    Just curious -- have you tried making nut butter from the pulp? If so, were the results satisfactory?

    I tried once and it just never got creamy -- I think too much fat was extracted from the nuts. What's left is more like a fine paste. I think it possibly could work if you mixed it with other nuts, but I haven't tried that.

    Thanks. My mind went to "calorie-free" (for logging purposes, because already logged) almond butter. :smile:
    I wonder if it would work in homemade marzipan or almond paste...

    ETA last word of post.
  • janejellyroll
    janejellyroll Posts: 25,763 Member
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    lynn_glenmont wrote: »
    janejellyroll wrote: »
    lynn_glenmont wrote: »
    janejellyroll wrote: »
    Here is what I do: I make the recipe for the milk including all the nuts. I then save my pulp and add it to things like smoothies, baked goods, and sauces without logging it. This means that my logging may not be accurate within a specific day, but I know that it will be accurate over time.

    I don't think this would work for everyone, but it seems to work well for me.

    @janejellyroll
    Just curious -- have you tried making nut butter from the pulp? If so, were the results satisfactory?

    I tried once and it just never got creamy -- I think too much fat was extracted from the nuts. What's left is more like a fine paste. I think it possibly could work if you mixed it with other nuts, but I haven't tried that.

    Thanks. My mind went to "calorie-free" (for logging purposes, because already logged) almond butter. :smile:
    I wonder if it would work in homemade marzipan or almond paste...

    ETA last word of post.

    Yes, it's much more like a paste than a butter. I never thought of marzipan -- if you were willing to experiment with how much fat to add back in, that seems like it could work. It's almost like a flour -- I've had good results with using it to replace some of the flour in things like muffins and pancakes.
  • PAV8888
    PAV8888 Posts: 13,750 Member
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    oat_bran wrote: »
    janejellyroll wrote: »
    Here is what I do: I make the recipe for the milk including all the nuts. I then save my pulp and add it to things like smoothies, baked goods, and sauces without logging it. This means that my logging may not be accurate within a specific day, but I know that it will be accurate over time.

    I don't think this would work for everyone, but it seems to work well for me.

    Hmm, this is interesting. I was actually planning to use the pulp instead of throwing it away, but I didn't realize that that should even out the results over time. I think I'll just go with subtracting the pump weight to figure out how much almonds stayed in the milk and then just use the dried pulp counting it as almonds, too, and it should even out in the end.

    Lynn's method has her over logging the higher calories item. Assuming that she's trying to lose weight this will presumably urge her to moderate usage on the days she is drinking the milk.

    She then underlogs the lower calories item, the pulp. While that may cause relative overeating on the days she eats it, it is a lower calorie item, and the net result would be small.

    Of course, in the end, you're one person eating the whole thing, so yes, it WILL average over time!

    You could also make your own, not shared entry, and modify your almonds in milk to include all the fat and no fiber.

    Then a second drained almond pulp entry with no fat.

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