Almond Milk
August 16, 2017
Dairy has become a big part of our lives – cheese, ice cream, yogurt, creamer – most of us eat or drink dairy daily. However, some people are lactose intolerant and cannot properly digest dairy products. This has forced people to find alternative foods to replace these dairy products. Nuts have proven to be a great substitute for almost all dairy products – you just need to know how to prepare them.
At some point, we will get to more nut/dairy substitutions but today we’re focusing on almond milk. This recipe can be done with any nut; some people use cashews, hazelnuts, or pistachios. You may have seen almond milk in stores but if you’ve looked at the nutritional facts, almond milk has far more ingredients and less nutritional value than cow’s milk and not-so-surprisingly doesn’t have a ton of almonds in it!
The good news is you can easily make almond milk at home which has as little as two ingredients – almonds and water. Which means less chemicals and more nutrition! This also means you can make different flavors of almond milk too.
To start, you’ll need almonds: buy unsalted, raw almonds
Soak about a cup of almonds in about 2 cups of water over night
The next day the almonds will be a little plump and at this point you can squeeze the skin off, but that step is no necessary and I tend to skip it.
Rinse the almonds and dump them into a blender and add more water - I usually add more than a cup but less than two cups. The more water you add, the less creamy the finished product will be.
You can also add flavors at this point such as honey, cinnamon, vanilla, or cocoa powder. Blend the mixture very well.
You can absolutely drink the milk as it is with the almond “pulp” but it’s a little too grainy and dry for me so I strain my mixture through a mesh strainer before drinking.
It’s frothy and light and slightly sweet.
You can store this almond milk in your fridge but I wouldn’t recommend storing it for a long time; you’ll also want to shake and stir before using because homemade almond milk will separate.
Drink cold and enjoy!
Pro Tip:
Save the ground almonds for your smoothies or if you're a baker, for your macarons!