World-first 'avocado milk' now being mass produced in Hawke's Bay factory

A Hawke's Bay-made avocado milk brand has been crowned winners at the global awards for food innovation. Photo / Supplied

Avocado milk, created for the first time by a Kiwi chef experimenting with making mayonnaise, is now being mass produced in a Hawke's Bay factory.

Avocadomilk, which was developed by Auckland's Sachie Nomura, recently claimed its second major global award of the year.

The product is made at the Envictus factory, in the Hastings suburb of Whakatu, before being exported to the United States.

Nomura, a Japanese-born chef and TV personality, said she was trying to make mayonnaise by blending avocado with milk when she accidentally created the product.

Auckland chef Sachie Nomura created Avocadomilk by mistake when attempting to make mayonnaise. Photo / Supplied

"I thought it tasted amazing and I had never seen a milk made out of avocados before. So, thought we should make it," Nomura said. "That was three years ago."

After spending time attempting to replicate the batch, Nomura experimented with blending avocados with both dairy and dairy alternatives.

With the right balance of taste, nutritional value and sustainability, she decided to pair the fruit with oat milk.

The drink, which contains only six ingredients, is 100 per cent natural and low in sugar, picked up the awards for Best New Brand and Best New Drink at the Zenith Global awards last week.

The Avocadomilk team soon decided that California, US, was a natural home for the product after visiting American supermarkets, with Avocadomilk now in 100 stores in the US and over 200 worldwide.

"When we saw Reece Witherspoon and Hugh Jackman shopping at one of the stores, we knew we were in the right place," Nomura said.

Avocadomilk was originally picked up by two high-end natural supermarkets in LA and San Diego in 2019.

"This gave us the confidence to employ a sales director, three brokers and have now been picked up by the two biggest natural food distributors in the US," she said.

Avocadomilk, which is now available in the original style, as well as a cacao flavour, also won awards in two categories at the World Food Innovation Awards in March.