Almond-Base | Beverage | Cashew-Base | Creamer-Base | Dairy-Free | Health+Wellness | Keto | Oat-Powder | Sugar-Free | Vegan | Vegetarian | 

Hands down, this is the most common question we receive on social media:

“How is JOI different than nut butter?" 

Obviously, there’s an elephant in the room, and we think it’s time to address it.

Because here’s the thing—JOI almond and cashew nut bases do look a lot like nut butters. And, in all fairness, you totally could smear some JOI on your morning toast (in fact, we do it all the time). But that’s not what our almond and cashew nut bases were designed and created for—just like actual nut butters weren’t designed and created to be blended up into nut milk. 

Let’s take a look at four things that set JOI nut bases apart from nut butters—and why JOI is better to make, better to drink, and better for you.

1. With JOI, you’ll never have to worry about a gritty nut milk consistency

JOI nut bases are made from 100% nuts—never salted, never roasted, never anything-ed. And, our process* of cold-milling and steam pasteurizing was designed with nut milking as the goal, creating a base that is as close to raw as you can get while still being FDA-certified safe to consume.This makes it pretty different from the grinding and milling process used to create nut butters, even the super natural, super clean, raw ones. The result? JOI nut bases make a really smooth, really consistent, really tasty nut milk. No separation when it’s blended, no gritty goop on the bottom, no mysterious floaties on top—just creamy on-demand nut milk.

2. JOI’s process releases nut enzymes and boosts nutrition

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 pasteurization takes care of this by blanching nuts to remove their skin--and we only use blanched nuts in our nut bases. Nut butters, on the other hand, are made by grinding nuts—eliminating the opportunity for enzyme release. 

3. JOI nut bases aren’t butter—and they’ll never act like it

The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) specifically calls out texture and consistency in its definition of nut butters: “The nut butters and nut spreads shall spread easily and shall not be thin or more than slightly stiff.” This doesn’t describe JOI nut bases, and we don’t want it to. Our nut bases are intended to be strong, thick, and scooped right out of their package and into a blender with water and whatever else your heart desires. To make delicious, consistent nut milk—not buttermilk.

4. JOI nut bases are designed, produced, and priced to be made into nut milk

If you’ve wondered why not just make your nut milk with a nut butter rather than JOI, we’ll venture to guess cost has been part of your thought process. We get it—at first glance, the sticker price on a jar of JOI may feel like a big jump from a jar of nut butter, but it is cost-effective. In fact, our $19.99 jar of nut base translates to a quart of almond milk that costs just $2.86. So that $3 jar of nut butter you’re eyeing up as a cheaper DIY nut milk alternative? The nuts in it have probably been roasted, it’s probably got extra ingredients, and you’ll probably need to use a lot of it (with a real good blender) to produce a creamy nut milk. And that $16 jar of fair-trade certified, 100% raw, vegan, organic, send-you-straight-to-hipster-heaven nut butter that’s the other alternative? Yeah, JOI nut bases will give you a cheaper, more delicious finished product.

Ready to add some JOI to your life? Place your order for our delicious almond or cashew nut base today, and taste nut milk for the actual first time.