Did you know 40% of food is wasted?

Why almonds’ uber-long shelf life matters.

America throws away nearly 60 million tons of food every year. That's almost 40% of the entire U.S food supply,¹ not to mention all of the resources that went into growing that food. While the numbers vary a bit from country to country, it’s a problem around the globe with food lost or wasted on the farm, in transport, at retail and in our homes.

Almonds are an exception in this space with their 2+ year shelf life. That means less than 1% are thrown out in the home,² the lowest of any U.S. food, and even fewer in the supply chain. What’s more, almonds grow inside of a hull and a shell, both of which are put to good use after the nuts are harvested. More on that below.

Another plus of that long shelf life? Almonds are perfectly suited for travel by boat — no need for airplanes here! Transportation via cargo ships has the lowest carbon emissions of common food transport methods, producing 50 times less carbon dioxide emissions per kilometer than travel by airplane.³

Four crops in one.

The nutritious almonds we eat grow in a shell, protected by a hull, on a tree — and nothing goes to waste. Putting each of these products to good use helps significantly offset the carbon footprint of growing almonds.⁴

At the end of their productive lives, almond trees are either mulched back into the land to create healthier soils or used to create electricity via cogeneration, supporting California’s green energy grid. The shells are used as livestock bedding and the hulls become livestock feed, offsetting the need to grow other crops.

This has water-saving benefits too. Almond hulls can replace alfalfa hay pound for pound in up to 20% of dairy cows’ diets, and all of California’s almond hulls are currently used for dairy feed. This reduces the acreage needed to grow alfalfa hay by 386,000 acres, saving the equivalent of 440 billion gallons of water.⁵ That’s equal to the annual water use of 4 million U.S. households.⁶

Building a circular economy.

While the current uses for almond hulls, shells and trees are good, we’re true Californians — always innovating. Focusing on ideas that are a win-win for farmers and the planet, farmer-funded research is underway exploring the feasibility of several new uses for almond hulls and shells.

One exciting approach is using almond hulls as an upcycled food ingredient. A cousin to peaches, the almond’s fuzzy outer hull is like the part of a peach we eat – filled with sugars but more bitter. We partnered with Bay Area food innovator Mattson to see if their unique flavor profile could meet the needs of food companies. After research into dozens of concepts, Mattson developed five product prototypes, the most promising of which are performance nutrition bars, a caffeine-free tea and lower-impact coffee.