The best almond milk and cashew milk now available in Canada exclusively on SwitchGrocery!!
JOI (JOI stands for Just One Ingredient!) Nut Milk base is a concentrate of 100% nuts, no junk! All you need to do it A B E – Add, Blend and EnJOI!!
JOI started with a problem -- the founders couldn’t find a great tasting pure almond milk! All of the ones they tried tasted like almond flavoured water with a few other ingredients thrown in.
Why We Picked JOI
- The founding team started JOI because of a simple problem: they couldn’t find a great tasting almond milk. What resulted is the most innovative way to consume nut milk and the TASTIEST. JOI is so much more flavourful and creamy than anything I’ve tried before and I love that you have full control and freedom to make your milk how you want!
- Like us at SwitchGrocery, JOI is focused on sustainable packaging and reducing their carbon footprint. Evey container of JOI replaces 7 946ml cartons of store-bought nut milk!
- Canadians deserve amazing products like this as quickly as possible.
I believe that awesome companies should be able to get their products to customers quickly, without waiting years to get on the shelves of traditional retail stores. Plus, the food you eat should make you feel good and help you on your health journey!
JOI is all of those things and we are so excited to be able to bring it to you!
Behind the Company
The founders of JOI, Tony, Izzy, and Dave, met while finishing their MBA programs in San Francisco and initially bonded over their gripes with the watered down taste of many big name almond milks, and the difficulty and frustration that comes with making your own nut milk as a “better” option.
JOI was born out of pure necessity and imagination as Tony wanted fresh milk that fit his vegan lifestyle, Izzy wanted to reduce her carbon footprint by minimizing packaging waste, and Dave wanted to manage his sensitivity to dairy.
What actually started off as a thesis project evolved into a mission to reimagine what and how we consume to take control of our own individual healthy lifestyles. JOI’s mission, which we are incredibly grateful to align with, is to shake up the food industry and lead the way towards more sustainable practices as well as more innovation with foods that cater to many different dietary restrictions (plant-based and dairy-free being just some of them!).
What is it?
JOI is a Nut Milk Base made 100% with Just One Ingredient -- nuts! If you’ve never heard of a nut milk base, it’s a nut concentrate that comes in a thick paste which can be mixed with water to create nut milk.
It may be useful to compare it to nut butters and while there are some similarities (both are made of nuts and become a creamy paste), they have some important differences!
JOI's description of their own process:
Nuts are super nutritious, but they’ve got some natural defenses to keep all that healthful goodness to themselves. To unlock their full healthy punch, nuts must be activated—stimulated to produce essential enzymes that make digestion and nutrient absorption easier for our bodies. JOI’s process including steam pressurization takes care of this by blanching nuts to remove their skin--and we only use blanched nuts in our nutbases. Nut butters, on the other hand, are made by grinding nuts—eliminating the opportunity for enzyme release.
Because JOI is purpose made for nut milk, you get a smoother and creamier milk (if you used nut butter it would come out gritty!).
One of the best things about JOI is how much freedom it gives to consumers. The key thing that makes JOI stand out is that it is designed for “instant gratification, long-term value.” Let’s break this down:
- Instant gratification - JOI makes high-quality nut milk so EASY to make (emphasis on “nut” since that’s 100% of the ingredients! Not like some of the watered down almond milks at grocery stores with fillers and additives like guar gum, locust bean, sweeteners, etc!). We all love the idea of homemade nut milk -- you know everything that’s in it, it doesn’t get any more clean or natural than that. But the process of making your own nut milk (pre-soaking the nuts, then having to squeeze and strain them in a nut milk bag only to have this milk that you put so much work into go bad within a week!) is a burden! Plus, with JOI you have full control of how you consume! So whether you find gratification in a thicker, creamier milk, or want to just make one cup, rest assured your joy will be instant.
- Long-term value - JOI stands out because of how LONG it lasts. It's a shelf-stable almond milk and cashew milk for up to 18 months (even after being opened!) and it doesn’t have to be refrigerated! You will never have to panic about being short on milk since 1 container makes up to 27 servings. As if this wasn’t enough, JOI tubs are 100% recyclable and one tub saves seven milk cartons from the landfill!
JOI Nut Milk Bases come in Cashew, Almond, and Organic Almond (which is made with 100% USDA Certified Organic almonds!), and all of their almonds are sourced from quality farmers in California.
Cost (I can save money?!?!)We ran the cost of a cup of JOI nut milk (made with 1 tbsp of JOI Nut Milk Base and 1 cup of water) and compared it to some of the widely available almond milks. We found that JOI costs about the same per cup as some of the mass market brands and is much cheaper than the pure nut milks that are available. So, not only does JOI create much less waste, but it’s the same price per cup as the brands in the grocery store, but with way less ingredients and is homemade!
Who should use JOI?
JOI is a perfect choice of milk for just about ANYONE. Of course, for anyone following a vegan or dairy-free lifestyle, this is some of the best stuff out there for you. But also, if you’re managing severe allergies with homemade cooking, or committed to consuming food that’s good for you and for our environment (but especially have little time on your hands), JOI caters to all of this! Just recently (October 2020), JOI became a Whole30 approved partner! It has all the (nutmilk) bases covered!
I use JOI nut milk in my coffee everyday (mixing Almond and Cashew together, sometimes with a bit of coconut cream added!), but it can be used for SO much more than just making milk! Eat it by the spoonful (it's delicious) and use it in place of dairy in recipes (especially great as a replacement for dairy-free/vegan banana nut bread recipes) or in smoothies! I've even made dairy free ricotta for my lasagna!
Final Thoughts
JOI is the nut milk I’ve been looking for! It is shelf stable (1 year), environmentally friendly (1 recyclable container = 7 cartons of nut milk from the store) and cost effective ($1.3 per cup, compared to $1.3-$2.7 per cup for Grocery Store brands)! What more can you ask for?!?! Oh yea – if you make with 1 tbsp of Almond JOI to 1 cup of water, it has 6% nut content vs 2% for store bought, 4g of protein vs 1g, and 8g of fat vs 1-3g!
Check out our favourite JOI recipes:
JOI Almond Milk Dairy-Free Iced Mocha