Making Cashew Milk

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Creamier, sweeter and versatile are the key adjectives when talking about cashew milk, especially compared to other plant-based milk. Additionally, it is rich in vitamins B and D, as well as essential minerals. Being a blend of cashew kernels and water, the cashew nut milk processing equipment includes a peeling and washing machine, a colloid mill, and a blending tank.

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The first steps: from raw cashew apple to a slurry

Having cashew kernels and water as the main ingredients, the initial step in cashew milk production is obtaining the nuts. Technically a seed, raw cashews must be detached from the “cashew apple”, which is usually done manually. However, due to the cashew shell being filled with toxins, the process must be executed carefully. Once the cashews are prepared, cashew milk processing can begin by soaking the nuts in hot water to remove the hull.

The hull is peeled in a drum-type peeling and washing machine which can also be used for other nuts. When the hull is removed, cashews are soaked again, this time in cold deionized water. After the soaking process, the nuts are rinsed in stainless steel washing tank and processed into a slurry with the help of either a colloid mill or superfine grinder.

Cashew nut milk processing equipment and production: transforming slurry into a beverage

The cashew slurry must be filtered by the vibrate screen filter in order to remove all present solids and unwanted substances. To turn the slurry into a beverage, the slurry is added to the key part of the cashew nut milk processing equipment – the blending tank. In the blending tank, the slurry is liquefied by adding pure RO water. This step is also important to achieve the desired consistency, flavor and nutritional benefits. Therefore, ingredients such as salt, sugar (around 3%), vitamins, gum, and lecithin can be added.

For cashew nut milk, the ideal ratio of nut to water is 1:10. Furthermore, as plant-based proteins can be hard to digest, enzymatic hydrolysis, which improves digestibility, is an essential step in production. To secure maximum safety, cashew milk is both homogenized and pasteurized. Pasteurization is done to sterilize the product and ensure safe shelf life. Finally, the sterilized milk must be degassed to remove the excess air.

Food safety and high-pressure processing

High-pressure processing is an alternative to securing food safety while minimizing the need for additives and preserving the nutritional value of products. Instead of additives and heat, it uses cold high-pressure, which destroys any pathogen present in the product. Alternative to pasteurization, the finished and packed product is placed into a wire wound vessel filled with pure, cold water, then pressurizing the water and contents through specially designed intensifier pumps to reach as high as 6,000 bars.

Under this amount of pressure, products will compress about 15% of their volume; therefore, the packaging must be made of flexible materials. The shelf life of cashew nut milk that underwent HPP is comparable to pasteurized cow milk.

While the HPP treatment alone did not affect the proteins, it significantly increased the peptide content of the cashew milk. It also increased the hydrolysis of the cashew milk, but the foaming capacity remained relatively the same. Although it is allowed, HPP of plant-based products in the European Union is strictly regulated.

Beyond plant-based milk: cashew yogurt

Due to its high crude protein percentage (16.8%), cashew yogurt is an excellent vegan alternative to dairy yogurt. Cashew yogurt is produced directly from cashew milk. To transform the beverage into food, the milk must be inoculated with the bacteria Streptococcus thermophilus. The product is then left to coagulate for 7 hours at 45°C. Once the yogurt is produced, it must be soaked in a cold bath overnight. Considering quality, content and viscosity, and no difference in taste and flavor with commercial yogurt, cashew yogurt is an ideal alternative for vegan and lactose-intolerant individuals.

Cashews vs. Almonds: which milk is greener?

Aside from being suitable for vegan and lactose-intolerant populations, plant-based milk is marketed as an environmentally-friendly alternative to regular dairy. In this context, comparing cashew and almond milk is interesting due to their similarities. While the cashew industry has a bad reputation due to poor working conditions, the almond industry relies on unsustainable mass pollination. However, the former can be avoided, while the latter can not.

In addition, almond production requires 12% more water, which mostly relies on underground aquifers, while a cashew tree gets 90% of the needed water from rain. Both almond and cashew trees absorb carbon dioxide, and it is unclear which milk production has a lower carbon footprint, but data shows that almond milk clearly wins over oat milk, soy milk, rice milk, and of course, cow milk.