Almond milk products from Blue Diamond and Califa Farms. 
 
 The path to a dairy-milk alternative has been wrought with many twists and turns. 
 
 For many years soy milk was a popular destination, until it fell out of favor due to its lack of calcium and fears that its high phytoestrogen content might increase the risk of breast cancer. So consumers moved to rice milk, but its lack of protein and nutrients, watery consistency, and high sugar content also limited its popularity. 
 
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 Now the group in search of nondairy milk has arrived at almond milk, enthusiastically and en masse. According to Nielsen, sales of refrigerated almond milk today account for 4.1 percent of total milk sales compared to less than ½ percent four years ago. 
 
 Mary Taggart of Wakefield and her husband, Jim, started drinking almond milk last year after the Wakefield couple did a food detox. Jim had been a whole-milk-only guy for years, but to his wife’s surprise, he’s become an enthusiastic almond milk convert. “This guy wouldn’t even let me buy low-fat,” she says. “To see him drinking it is mind boggling. He doesn’t feel as congested, and I never felt good with a lot of dairy.” 
 
 Enthusiastic almond adopters like the Taggarts are pushing demand for almond milk — and the nut itself — to historic heights. Add in an insatiable almond appetite in China and you have a recipe for both skyrocketing demand and rising prices that John O’Shaughnessy, general manager of the consumer division at Blue Diamond Growers, calls “extraordinary. 
 
 “It just continues to snowball,” says O’Shaughnessy. “[Prices] have gone up by about a third since 2009, and there has been no falloff in demand since these prices have been passed into the marketplace.” 
 
 Rene Becker of Hi-Rise Bread Co. bakeries in Cambridge pays 50 percent more for almonds than he did two years ago, a significant portion of his budget, given that he uses the nuts in both homemade pastries and milk. He blends up 10 or 12 gallons of homemade almond milk a week between his two shops, especially during the cooler months. “It just tastes so much better than anything else out there,” says the bakery owner. A regular cappuccino at Hi-Rise costs $3.50, but it’s $5 with almond milk; a latte costs $6 (instead of $4 for a traditional cup made with cow’s milk). “It foams beautifully. A lot of regulars buy a cup of almond milk [on its own],” says Becker. “In and of itself, it’s great.” 
 
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 Many consumers like Dave Falcone also say the higher cost isn’t their main concern. The Canton resident started snacking on almonds and using almond milk in his scrambled eggs last September as part of a wider attempt to fight an autoimmune condition. “I’m happy with it, and I feel better with it. If it’s the product I want, even if it’s $1 more, I’m not going to complain about a buck,” he says. 
 
 Kathy McDonald of Medfield estimates she spends about $12 on the nut milk and packages of raw nuts weekly. A clinical social worker and mother of three, McDonald says her mission to incorporate almond milk into her diet a year ago was because she thinks it’s healthier and lower in calories (1 cup of almond milk is 40 calories; 1 cup low-fat cow’s milk is 120 calories). She uses Silk unsweetened almond milk daily in her cereal, and also blends it into smoothies with strawberries, bananas, flax seed, coconut oil, and protein powder. “I eat healthy. I work out a lot. I do find the almond products sustain you more than an empty calorie,” she says. “I like the calorie count and the protein, and I really like that it’s less processed and better for you and your body to use.” 
 
 But Dr. Wayne Shreffler, director of Massachusetts General Hospital’s Food Allergy Center, says the dairy substitute isn’t a stellar beverage from a nutritional standpoint. “It’s not a great protein source,” he says, adding that it also only provides a fraction of the recommended daily allowance of Vitamin D. “You need to drink a lot of it. We often say, ‘Use almond butter.’ ” 
 
 Depending on the brand, Shreffler also cautions that many almond milk manufacturers add sweetener during the production process. 
 
 You don’t want to use a milk substitute that has a lot of sugar in it,” he says. “That’s not necessarily a good thing.” 

 Botanically peanuts are legumes, however for culinary, research and nutritional purposes peanuts are considered a nut. Peanuts grow underground, as opposed to nuts like walnuts, almonds, etc. that grow on trees and these are botanically considered drupes. 
 
 Peanuts, along with beans and peas, belong to the single plant family, Leguminosae. Legumes are edible seeds enclosed in pods. As a group, they provide the best source of concentrated protein in the plant kingdom. While their physical structure and nutritional benefits more closely resemble that of other legumes, their use in diets and cuisines more closely resembles that of nuts. 
 
 Peanut seeds (kernels) grow into a green oval-leafed plant about 18 inches tall, which develop delicate yellow flowers around the lower portion of the plant. The flowers pollinate themselves and then lose their petals as the fertilized ovary begins to enlarge. The budding ovary or 'peg' grows down away from the plant, extending to the soil. The peanut embryo turns horizontal to the soil surface and begins to mature, taking the form of the peanut. From planting to harvesting, the growing cycle takes four to five months, depending on the type or variety. 
 
 In the U.S., peanuts and peanut butter are the most popular nut choice and comprise 67% of all nut consumption. 
 
 
 
 
 
 © USDA-ERS, 2009 

 Step aside, soy, your time is up. Almond milk is here and it's winning new friends all over town. 
 
 Leanne Clancey 
 
 Whether served warm or chilled, almond milk is undeniably hot right now. You'll find it blended through smoothies, splashed on granola and battling soy as the non-dairy alternative in coffees. Indeed, as far as food trends go, almond milk is fast becoming ''a thing'', and one that's being embraced by Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane cafes. 
 
 But before you recall those preservative-laden cardboard cartons and UHT, think again. We've moved on. The new wave of raw almond milk is fresh, handmade, hyper-local, and in most cases delivered the same day by the very folks who made it. With nothing more than fresh almonds, a few dates, filtered water and a pinch of salt, it's rich, sweet and creamy and streets ahead of its mass produced rivals on taste. 
 
 One such producer is Sydney-based Anthony Tuong of Inside Out Nutritious Goods, who supplies his cold-pressed almond milk to Harris Farm, Ruby's Diner and various farmers' markets. Tuong says that health is what drives a lot of his customers. "The recent rise in popularity has certainly been helped along by the negative press surrounding dairy and soy milk," he says. He also believes that in a sea of highly processed, non-dairy UHT options, "fresh almond milk tastes so much better and is just the natural choice to a lot of consumers." He says that while most commercial UHT almond milks have a total almond content of about 2 per cent to 3 per cent, the fresh raw stuff usually sits at closer to 12 per cent. 
 
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 In Melbourne, Almond Milk Co, by former barista Cameron Earl, is the brand of choice for many specialty coffeehouses. 
 
 When Earl started his business earlier this year, he was producing about 60 litres a week from his borrowed Ripponlea production kitchen. Less than five months later he's now pushing out 500 litres a week to keep up with demand from cafes including Seven Seeds, Proud Mary and Slater Street Bench. 
 
 Earl reckons that, as well as awareness of some of the perceived health risks of soy milk, the almond milk trend is driven by consumers' sense of food adventure and willingness to try new things. "It has everything to do with the people," he says. "Melburnians are so excited by food trends, and they want to keep up with the global food environment. And also, it tastes incredible." 
 
 Brother Baba Budan barista Cale Sexton is a big fan of Earl's product and says that fresh almond milk is "easy to texture" and due to its alkaline nature, "works really well with coffee's acidity which means it's less likely to curdle in the way that soy often does." 
 
 Paleo-inspired cafe Patch has its almond milk custom-made by Tanka. It's just almond milk and water, no added salt or sugar, so fructose-intolerant coffee lovers can still partake in an almond-milk latte. 
 
 Fellow Melbourne producer Jian Indomenico, of Latte di Mandorla, draws on his Italian heritage when making his almond milk. Packaged in distinctive glass bottles, his drop comes both au natural and in flavoured variations such as lavender, cacao, and vanilla and honey and the brand is gaining increasing popularity with specialty and organic retailers such as Plump Organics, il Fornaio and Hams & Bacon, which appreciate the old-fashioned aesthetic. "My product is actually an old Sicilian recipe," he says. 
 
 And it's definitely quality, rather than quantity that drives his hands-on production from his mother's Moonee Ponds kitchen. "The almond milk is made in such a way that it makes it difficult to mass-produce without sacrificing texture and taste." 
 
 For stockists see insideoutng.com.au, almondmilkco.com.au and popaleta.com. 

 America has a new favorite nut. 
 
 The country's appetite for almonds has grown by more than 220 percent since 2005--far faster than demand for pecans, walnuts, macadamias, pistachios, cashews, or peanuts. The rise is even more startling when compared to the early 1970s, when the average American ate just over a quarter of a pound of almonds per year. Now they consume more than two pounds per year. 
 
 America's love affair with almonds is such that not even peanuts can compete anymore. In 2012 Americans ate more almonds per capita than shelled and unshelled snack peanuts combined (not including peanut butter). 
 
 The country's growing almond obsession has a lot to do with the convergence of a number of popular health narratives and dietary preferences. 
 
 Americans, for one, aren't nearly as worried about fat intake as they once were. "Nuts were considered unhealthy due to their high fat content," a 2011 report by the University of Michigan said. "However, this perception has changed over the past decade." 
 
 A national shift away from traditional sources of protein, like red meat, has also made the protein-packed nut an increasingly popular foodstuff. Meat consumption has been falling for almost a decade in the U.S., according to research firm Packaged Facts. The growing demand for healthy, but appetite-suppressing snacks, has helped, too—especially considering that nearly everyone in the country now snacks. There is also the rise of vegetarianism and veganism; a recent study found that more than 3 percent of American adults now follow a vegetarian diet. 
 
 Almonds have also benefited from years of heavy marketing and scores of favorable studies professing the nut's myriad health benefits. The nut (or at least its consumption) has been linked to (pdf) improved heart health, weight management, and even longer life-spans, among other things. Almond growers haven't been shy about jumping on board. The Almond Board of California happily touts the nut's nutritional benefits prominently on its website. No wonder no other nut is considered as nutritious by consumers. 
 
 Almonds have become so popular that they're now creeping into just about everything we eat. Almond milk (which is terribly inefficient, by the way) now accounts for nearly 5 percent of national milk sales, and almond butter can now be found on supermarket shelves around the country. Even almond flour is making its way into the limelight on the heels of the nation's gluten-free kick.
– For decades, the peanut has reigned supreme, its popularity a league above the rest of the nuts (even though technically it's not a nut, but a legume). And while almonds have been growing in popularity faster than any other nut, it wasn't until recently that they finally surged ahead of peanuts—jumping 220% since 2005 alone. In fact, the average American consumes 2 pounds of almonds a year, a stark difference from the '70s, when it hovered around a quarter-pound, reports the Washington Post. Experts propose a few reasons behind the surge. "The recent rise in popularity has certainly been helped along by the negative press surrounding dairy and soy milk," an almond milk producer tells Good Food. There's also less concern with nuts' fat content than there was just a few years ago, and as more people eschew red meat—at least 3% of Americans now claim to be vegetarian—almonds are an attractive alternate protein source. Heavy marketing, as well as several studies finding health benefits in almonds, have also raised awareness and consumption of almonds in multiple forms—including oil, flour, and milk, with almond milk accounting for almost 5% of US milk sales. (Check out how the "Got Milk?" campaign has changed.)