How to make plant milk with a Cold Press extractor

In addition to the trend for cold-pressed juices, which is well established in the United States and spreading around the world, recently, consumption of plant milk has been growing rapidly. In this post, I will explain how to make nut milks and why you should offer it in your business.

The popularity of this natural drink is determined by three main factors:

• The increase in people who are changing their diet and becoming vegan or vegetarian.
• Lactose-intolerant people who are switching to plant-based drinks.
• People who are eager to have a healthy diet who believe that consuming dairy products is unhealthy.

These 3 trends explain the increased consumption of milks made from nut products over the last decade. Until a few years ago, the common alternatives to cow’s or goat’s milk were oat milk or soya milk. Now, both of these options have fallen in popularity since oats and soya are some of the most genetically modified foods. Moreover, several much healthier alternatives have become popular

The market situation in terms of plant milks

Sales of this kind of milks in the United States have grown by 65% over the last 5 years. In the meantime, sales of cow’s milk have dropped by 15%. The annual 10% growth seen in the US has also extended to other areas of the world over the last few years and, among the various options, almond milk stands out as the star of the category, as well as milk made from other dried fruit such as cashew nuts, walnuts and hazelnuts.

Categories of vegetable milks according to production method

Production using a pasteurisation process

This process, in which the ingredients are heated to temperatures above 80-100º, ensures that the product can be preserved at room temperature for over 6 months. On the other hand, this process changes the flavour of the plant-based drink, as well as its nutritional properties.

Production by cold pressing

To guarantee a higher number of vitamins and minerals, this is the optimum manufacturing method for nut milks. In this method, the ingredients are not heated during the production process, maximising the flavour of the nut-based drink.

If you have a juice bar, nut milk is perfect to sell alongside cold-pressed juices because it has different, fully complementary properties. Nut milks is higher in healthy fats (particularly walnut milk or hazelnut milk). Furthermore, they have fewer carbohydrates, making them the perfect drink for sportspeople. Additionally, it is possible to add various superfoods to give the nut drink a more distinctive flavour, which is a good strategy to set it even further apart from the competition.

Are you looking for a machine to make vegetable milks? Are you wondering if you can make nut milks with a Cold Press juicer? With Zumex Mastery, the Zumex Cold-Press juicer, you can quickly and efficiently create nut milks from all kinds of dried fruit: cashew nut milk, walnut milk, hazelnut milk or almond milk. Remember that the most widespread nut-based drink is almond milk, however, you can experiment with the combinations you choose to find out which flavour your customers like most.

An example: How to make nut milk in 8 simple steps

• Soak the dried fruit that you have chosen for your recipe for 24-48 hours. Usually, the longer you leave it, the less water you need to mix it.
• After this time, clean and rinse the product.

• Mix the dried fruit with water. At this point, the mixture will depend on a number of factors: the flavour you want to give it, the cost of the final product (dried fruits are expensive, so the larger the quantities of dried fruit and water used, the more expensive production will be).

We recommend using a third of dried fruit and two thirds of water. Companies that sell pasteurised plant milk in Tetra Briks only use 7% dried fruit, and this is why the product often lacks flavour.

• Use a blender to mix the water and dried fruit until it becomes a smooth paste. At this point, you should also add the ingredients of your recipe: sweeteners (dates, agave, stevia, honey, etc.) salt, cinnamon or vanilla, etc.

The high speed of the blender causes the emulsion of the fats from the dried fruit with the water, creating the nut milk whilst the other ingredients are mixed in. In the next stage, we separate the liquid phase from the solid phase.

• Empty the resulting mixture directly into the bag of the Zumex Mastery juicer. Use the widest one and fill the bag until it is approximately half-full.

• Begin the pressing process at a low speed. This will prevent the mixture from overflowing from the top of the bag or the bag breaking from the excess pressure.

• Remueve bien el producto final y ya está listo para embotellar y ser consumido.

As you can see, the manufacturing process is very simple, and you can produce different, nutritious and delicious drinks. Do you want to win over your customers? Expand your drinks selection and connect with new consumers. Request information on Zumex Mastery and start selling the best nut milks in your city.