How almond milk is made
Almond milk is mostly water. One US lawsuit noted that some cartons held only 2 percent almonds.
- stations
- 6
- things upstream
- 2
- raw sources
- 2
- step from the ground
- 1
The short version
Almonds are soaked and ground in a large amount of water. The milky liquid is filtered from the pulp, then flavored and fortified with vitamins. For stability and shelf life a commercial plant homogenizes it at high pressure and pasteurizes it before filling cartons.
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Soak the nuts
Almonds are soaked in water to soften them before grinding.
Goes in -
Grind with extra water
The soaked almonds are ground in a large excess of water, which releases oil and protein from the nut into a milky white suspension.
Goes in -
Filter out the pulp
The mixture passes through a filter that holds back the almond pulp and lets the white liquid through.
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Add flavor and vitamins
Commercial almond milk is usually fortified with micronutrients, since the nut itself delivers few of the vitamins found in dairy milk. Sweetener and vanilla or chocolate flavor may be added.
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Homogenize under pressure
High pressure breaks up the oil droplets so the drink does not separate in the carton.
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Pasteurize and fill
Heat treatment gives the drink its shelf life before it is filled and sealed.
Worth repeating
- The oldest known almond milk recipes date to 1226 in a cookbook from the Middle East.
- In 2013 almond milk passed soy milk as the most popular plant milk in the United States.
- One glass of almond milk takes about 74 liters of water to produce, mostly for growing the nuts.
Back to the ground
Follow every input upstream and almond milk starts as these 2 raw sources.
Keep walking
Sources
Cite this page: "How almond milk is made." Assembly Line, 2026-11-03. https://assemblyline.org/make/almond-milk