Why make your own almond milk? Besides the nutritional value, you have the assurance of knowing what is exactly in your milk. Guaranteed to be free of dairy, soy, lactose, gluten, casein, egg, and carrageenan, you can also be reassured that your milk has no artificial colors, flavors or anything else that you can’t pronounce as ingredients (a good nutritional rule to follow: if you can’t pronounce it, don’t eat it).
So now let’s talk about what your almond milk DOES have in it…. each cup has about 60 calories and is a good source of vitamin A, vitamin D, and Potassium. You are also in control of the nut-to-water ratio and allowing a much higher nut percentage than commercially available options. A good ratio to follow is 1 cup of almonds to 2 cups of water.
Because of our pure ingredient list, fresh almond milk does not have a long storage life (about 5-6 days in fridge). We rarely let our milk go to waste though. Just a few of our favorite uses for almond milk are in creamy smoothies, cereal, oatmeal, and a splash for coffee lovers.
Are you hungry yet? Let’s get started!
What you will need:
Organic Almonds
Distilled Water
Sea Salt
Organic Vanilla or Vanilla Bean
Organic Raw Honey (if you like to sweeten it up)
Blender
Fine Mesh Strainer
Nut Bag or Cheese Cloth
Glass Storage container
1. Soak the amount of almonds you wish to use. I generally use 2 cups. This is the amount my family will use within a week with no waste. Place almonds in a glass bowl and fill with double the volume of cool water. If you’re using a vanilla bean, soak this as well. Let soak at least 8-12 hours.
2. After nuts have soaked, rinse and place in a blender with double the volume of distilled water. If you soaked 2 cups of almonds then use 4 cups of distilled water.
3. Add a pinch of salt, the soaked vanilla bean or extract, and blend on high for about two minutes.
4. Place the mesh strainer over a bowl and pour the milk slowly into the strainer. This is the first filtering step. Let drip until almost all the liquid has seeped through.
5. Next, take the liquid and pour it through a nut bag into another bowl and squeeze to get all liquid separated from the almond meal. You will see beautiful almond meal left in your bag. DO NOT THROW THIS AWAY! For now, set aside for further use.
6. Take the remaining almond meal that is left in the mesh strainer and filter it through the nut bag the same way, extracting all the milk you can. Again, save that almond meal. I let the almond meal dry out for 2-3 hours before storing or making cookies with it.
7. Store the almond milk in the fridge in an airtight, glass container.
Congratulations on making your first batch of many more to come!