Blue Diamond Almonds is a company that specializes in almonds.
They are known for using almonds in various products, including roasted almonds, almond milk, almond nut-thins, almond flour, almond coffee, almond protein powder, and more.
They claim to be the world’s largest tree nut processing and marketing company, making their almond crop (worth over $1b) — California’s biggest food export.
Even though Blue Diamond Almonds is not a vegan brand, they sell many products that are suitable for vegans, namely almond milk, roasted almonds, and even almond protein powders.
Because they have more vegan than non-vegan products, let’s look at the non-vegan products and their respective ingredients.
Introduction: Blue Diamond Almonds
While Blue Diamond Almonds has almonds at its base, some products contain animal ingredients.
Blue Diamond divides its products into 6 primary categories:
- Classic Snack Almonds
- Crafted Snack Almonds
- Almond Breeze (milk, creams, yogurt)
- Nut-Thins
- Baking Ingredients
- Protein Powders
In some categories, we may find a mixture of vegan and non-vegan products, but for most, that’s not exactly the case. Blue Diamond Almonds has more vegan products than non-vegan products.
Non-Vegan Blue Diamond Almond Products
Here is a quick table listing its non-vegan products and respective non-vegan ingredients:
| Category: | Flavor: | Non-vegan ingredients: |
|---|---|---|
| Classic Snack Almonds | Salt ‘n Vinegar Artificially Flavored Almonds | Lactose (Milk) |
| Classic Snack Almonds | Honey Roasted Almonds | Honey |
| Almond Breeze | Almond Breeze Hint of Honey | Honey |
| Almond Breeze | Almond Breeze Hint of Honey Vanilla | Honey |
| Nut Thins | Almond Nut Thins | Milk |
| Nut Thins | Hint of Sea Salt Nut Thins | Milk |
| Nut Thins | Pecan Nut Thins | Milk |
| Nut Thins | Cheddar Cheese Nut Thins | Milk |
| Nut Thins | Country Ranch Nut Thins | Milk |
| Nut Thins | Pepper Jack Nut Thins | Milk |
| Nut Thins | Honey Cinnamon Nut Thins | Milk |
Keep in mind that new products may be launched, and old products may be altered, so always make sure you check the ingredient labels before purchasing any product, or their official website.
Additional Note For Stricter Vegans
If you’re a strict vegan, even among “vegan” products you’ll find ingredients you might want to avoid.
For example, Blue Diamond Almonds use refined sugar. Technically, sugar is vegan because it comes from plants, but it might be processed with animal ingredients, especially in North America.
Refined sugar usually comes from two sources: sugarcane and beets. While the two are very similar in taste and texture, their filtering process is different. The good news is that sugar from beets is always vegan, but it’s common for cane sugar to be processed with bone char.
Bone char is a black powder made from the carbonized bones of cattle, and it’s what many sugar refineries use to decolorize and remove residual inorganic impurities in sugar.
Not every sugar refinery uses bone char to filter sugar.
Some refineries use activated charcoal or ion-exchange resins to achieve the same result.
Sadly, even though this information should be stated on product labels, it’s not, so if you want to know whether or not a product contains sugar refined with bone char, you have to contact the company.
Summary
According to the research I’ve done, most products by Blue Diamond Almonds are vegan.
Out of the dozens of products sold by Blue Diamond Almonds, only 14 products contain animal-based ingredients, and most are Nut Thins. Therefore, we can safely assume that Blue Diamond Almonds is a vegan-friendly brand.
