As Green Monsters, we love our almond milk, and the trend is catching on like wildfire! It’s so nice to see one of our favorite vegan staples increase in sales as more and more people give up dairy and embrace a plant-based lifestyle.

Blue Diamond CEO Mark Jensen says their products, including Almond Breeze and Almond Nut Thins, have seen a huge sales increase over the past five years that have accounted for nearly $500 million in annual revenues. The company, which is the world’s largest marketer and processor of almonds, has obtained a 16 percent compound annual growth rate over the past three years. In 2013 alone, sales that ended in August jumped almost 19 percent to $1.2 billion and are on course to reach $1.5 billion in the year until August 2014, said Jansen to FoodNavigator-USA.

This growth is coming from people living a healthy lifestyle, said Suzanne Hagener to FoodNavigator-USA. Because more people have taken a step in the healthier direction, the California almond crop has been growing steadily for 40 years, with progress booming more in the past 10 years when crops doubled in size.

If you’d like to make your own almond milk, check out our great recipes:

How to Milk an Almond

How to Make Almond Milk

Lead image source: Triathlete Foods / Flickr