Almond Milk - Make Your Own
Almond milk is easy to make at home … really!
When you make your own almond milk you avoid having to deal with the cartons, both lugging them home from the store, and sending them back to the recycler. And home made almond milk is much more economical than the commercially prepared brands, especially if you purchase almonds in bulk and store them in the freezer.
Another advantage of making your own almond milk, is you can sweeten it how you choose … or don’t sweeten it at all. And you can filter it or not. This flexability allows you to create almond milk to suit your particular need. For instance, if I am going to use the almond milk in a recipe that already contains sweetening ingredients, I make an unsweetened version. I make a sweetened almond milk to pour on my unsweetened breakfast cereal (usually cooked brown rice or quiona).
The only time I filter my almond milk is when I am going to drink it on its own.
It takes less than 5 minutes to make a full litre of almond milk that will keep in the fridge for several days.
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup raw almonds
- 4 cups filtered water
Optional Ingredients
Sweetener: 1-2 pitted dates OR 1 tbsp honey OR 1 tbsp maple syrup (To keep this recipe detox friendly, leave out the sweetener.)
Flavouring: pinch of sea salt, splash of vanilla extract or seeds from 1 vanilla bean, 1 tsp cinnamon, allspice or nutmeg
Enhancer: 1 tbsp organic coconut oil (adds richness to the finished product)
Directions
- For best results, soak your almonds for a few hours to over night. To soak almonds simply place them in a small bowl and add filtered water until they are covered. Discard soaking water and rinse before use.
- Place almonds and water into high speed blender (Vita-mix works perfectly for this)
- Blend on high for about 60 seconds
- Decide what type of almond milk you want and follow the appropriate directions below.
For unsweetened, filtered milk: (Detox friendly version.)
- Pour it through a strainer or nut milk bag. The ‘pulp’ will keep in the fridge for several days, or can be dehydrated and ground up into almond flour.
- Enjoy the milk as is, over ice, or added to recipes
For sweetened, filtered milk:
- Pour it through a strainer or nut milk bag. The ‘pulp’ will keep in the fridge for several days, or can be dehydrated and ground up into almond flour.
- Put the filtered ‘milk’ back in the blender
- Add your choosen sweeteners, flavourings and/or enhancer and blend for about 30 seconds. When using dates as a sweetener, you may need to blend a little longer to ensure the dates are completly broken down.
- Enjoy the milk as is, over ice, or added to recipes
- For unsweetened, unfiltered milk: (Detox friendly version.)
- You’re done!
- Enjoy the milk as is, over ice, or added to recipes
For sweetened, unfiltered milk:
Add your choosen sweeteners, flavourings and/or enhancer and blend for about 30 seconds. When using dates as a sweetener, you may need to blend a little longer to ensure the dates are completely broken down
Enjoy the milk as is, over ice, or added to recipes