HEALTHY, HIGH-NUTRITION PLANT-BASED MILKS

Plant-based, non-dairy milks are water-based beverages made from nuts, grains, and legumes (seeds), offering lactose-free and cholesterol-free nutrition. Out of about 20 different types of plant-based milks commercially available, almond, oat, soy, coconut, and pea milks are the highest-selling worldwide. Plant-based milks are also made from a number of other seeds including wheat, rice, lupine, chickpeas, pistachio, walnut, flax and sesame. These drinks are compatible with vegetarian and vegan lifestyles. Ice cream, cheese and yogurt analogs are made from plant-based milk. Plant-based milks have a significantly lower carbon foot print than dairy milks.

A typical process of making a plant-based milk includes cleaning, soaking, dehulling, grinding to produce a slurry, heating to inactivate some enzymes, removing sedimental solids by filtration, adding water, sugar and other ingredients to improve flavor, aroma, and micronutrient content, homogenizing to reduce particle size and improve stability, and heating to pasteurize or sterilize, followed by packaging and storage. One hundred percent of the seeds, such as grains, legumes and nuts, are not converted in to the milk. They often produce as much as 50% solid residues.

Hence, the nourishment value, e.g., protein, is not as much as expected from the seeds. For example, the most popular milk, that of almond, has only 1% protein while that of cow milk has 3% protein. We have developed a process for converting nearly 100% of the seeds, such as almond, into milk with little or no residue. That way milk produced by our methods will be highly nutritious.

The global plant-based milk market is valued at approximately ~$22 billion in 2026 and is projected to reach $40 billion by 2034.