Powered Almond Milk

[Sean Passanisi]

Hello. I'm searching for a source of powered almond milk. At home, I enjoy my favorite muesli with almond milk; on the trail, it just doesn't taste as good with hot water. I found an old thread with some options but I'm wondering if there are any new products on the market. Ideally, I'd love to find something that I could mix with cold water, but hot will do just fine. As a fallback, I'm open to powdered soy or some other non-dairy alternative. Thanks.

http://www.backpackinglight.com/cgi-bin/backpackinglight/forums/thread_display.html?forum_thread_id=47654&startat=20

[Mercedes Clemens]

I've looked high & low for powdered almond milk and have been unable to find it. I have pretty much resigned myself to no milk on trips. Or dehydrating my own almond milk, but I'm not sure it's worth the trouble.

I tried a powdered rice milk but it did not mix well at all, came out all lumpy & did not taste very good. I can't do soy or regular milk; powdered coconut milk is out due to the inclusion of casein as an ingredient (darn it, because the stuff is delicious!).

[Mary D]

Googling "powdered almond milk" (not powered) turned up several sources. If you try any of those, please let us know!

[Mercedes Clemens]

Yes, I've Googled (and Googled) — unfortunately, the Google results aren't very helpful. It's got overseas websites (prices prohibitive) and almond milk powder from China (um, no!). :-(

[Rex Sanders]

Some ideas on other ways to make almond milk while backpacking.

Put a good size scoop of almond butter in a quart jar, add vanilla and stevia if you want, and add water. Cap the jar and shake it up well. At home I do this in the blender when I am in a pinch for almond milk.

Comment in: http://www.elanaspantry.com/almond-milk/

More quantitative recipes using almond butter:
http://glutenfreeeasily.com/how-to-make-almond-milk-in-less-than-3-minutes/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3GQZTZyG8Zs
http://www.girlmakesfood.com/easy-instant-almond-milk/

Also check out almond flour to almond milk recipes using Google, Bing, etc. Most of those recipes call for straining and re-using the grounds. But some people don't strain the grounds.

No personal experience, I'm not a fan of almond milk.

— Rex

[Kimberley De Wolff]

In my searches for a non-dairy backpacking milk, I did come across some vegan coconut milk powder options (super organic foods has some). I can't vouch for it personally though, since I ended up going with a cheaper soy option. Let me know if you try it.

[Sarah Kirkconnell]

What Rex talks about above works well. You can do it with nearly any seed or nut butter. It works.

[Rex Sanders]

For convenience and shelf stability, you can find almond butter (and many other nut butters) in small packets:

Artisana http://www.artisanafoods.com/squeeze-packs/almond-butter-squeeze-packs/

Justin's http://justins.com/item/classic-almond-butter-1-15oz-pack/

Barney Butter http://www.barneybutter.com/products/category/barney-butter-snack-packs/

I might try the Artisana packets as a spread on tortillas for future trips.

— Rex

[Laurie Ann March]

Break out your food dehydrator and make your own. I've successfully dried and powdered several brands of unsweetened and sweetened almond milk… from Blue Diamond to organic brands. It was also in my second book… remind me tomorrow and I'll pull the how-to from the manuscript files and post it.

[Nick Smolinske]

I'd ditto the almond butter idea. Us backpackers get hung up on powdered foods, but we don't need powdered food, we need water-free foods. Not the same thing. Or to quote Alton Brown, "just because it's a liquid doesn't mean it's wet".

Any powdered almond milk is either going to be de-fatted (no reason to want that in a backcountry setting), or harder to dissolve than just almond butter. The only disadvantage to the butter is that it requires a little more care to package.

[Bill Segraves]

Has anybody here tried using almond flour? It's still mostly fat calories, and I was thinking if one wanted to add even a little more fat, powdered coconut milk might actually taste good with it. If no one's tried it, maybe I'll pick up some almond flour this weekend to see what happens. If you have, and it's bad (or if it's good!), please let us all know.

Cheers,

Bill S.

[Bill Segraves]

I went ahead and tried making almond milk from almond flour, Bob's Red Mill finely ground from blanched almonds. With just vigorous stirring, it didn't dissolve/suspend very well. Most of it settled quickly to the bottom of the glass, and what was left was a pretty dilute version of almond milk. (In fairness to the almond flour test, I didn't get much better results using almond butter, Trader Joe's smooth butter from roasted almonds.) Thinks went significantly better with a blender. There was still a fair amount of material that settled out quickly, but the "milk" tasted and looked pretty much like unsweetened commercially available almond milk. Whether there's a reasonable way to get adequate mixing without carrying a blender, or whether one of the superfine grinds of almond flour might work appreciably better remain to be seen.

For those who were concerned that almond flour might have too much of the fat removed, the Bob's Red Mill has fat content similar to almond butter, or almonds. But if one wanted to add a bit more, powdered coconut milk is a good option. I tried stirring some into the blender-mixed almond milk (after the blending was over), and it tasted pretty good.

Cheers,

Bill S.

[Lizz Roe]

Hi there, I've managed to get different kinds of powdered coconut milk – both vegan if that's your thing – maggis and real food source, though the latter is reduced fat. I've also had success with almond flour – I've found the trick is to soak it and really do a good lot of shaking! I have some powdered soya milk which I bought in the Czech republic – I've not found it since in the UK or online, but it's good in drinks. In the US I ordered from the food fight people in Portland and they had everything! Sarah Kramer gives some excellent suggestions on how to make vegan milks from a range of sources – nut butters, oats, bananas, nuts – check out her website or her books 'how it all vegan' 'the garden of vegan' 'la dolce vegan' or 'vegan a go go'. If it's cow based dairy you are avoiding then there is a lot of dried goat milk around – I'm vegan so I don't use it myself but I do see it as I reach past for the plant based stuff…. Good luck

[Mercedes Clemens]

So I finally found some almond milk powder. It's available on Amazon, ships from the UK. Estimated shipping time is long, but I received it in less than 10 days.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0028VK5WC

It’s not really comparable to a commercial, ready-to-drink almond milk, like Blue Diamond — it’s not as rich or full tasting and doesn’t lighten up my coffee like ready-made almond milk does but the coffee tastes good (but different). It dissolves really well in cold refrigerated water (40 degrees F) — a problem I've run into with other non-dairy instant milks. One quick stir and it's mixed; even swirling it around in a cup should work. You can see little particles suspended in the solution, but it’s not particularly gritty. Looks like milk in a glass.

The dry consistency is very light & fluffy. Recommendation is to use 2-3 tablespoons in a glass of water or 10g of powder per 100mL of water.

Organic ingredients:
Partially defatted instant almonds (70%), corn maltodextrin, rice syrup, agave syrup, almond oil, natural almond flavoring.

Nutrition per 100g (note: nutrition label on canister has differences from what is pictured in the photos on Amazon):
– 463 kcal
– Fat 15.2g
– Sat fat 1.5g
– Mono fat 10.5g
– Poly fat 3.2g
– Carbs 68g
– Total sugars 11.5g
– Fiber 1.3g
– Protein 13g
– Sodium 0.4g
– Calcium 172mg
– Phosphorus 364mg

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