8.09.2008

Fresh Almond Milk

On one of the forums I belong to someone asked how to make almond milk.  I decided after posting there, to copy my response here, since it's such a basic (and yummy!) staple.

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There are a few ways to make almond milk. Here are one's I have tried.

- Soak raw almonds in clean water over night. Rinse. Blend with fresh water. strain.

- Use purchased raw almond butter. Blend with fresh water. straining optional.

- Make your own almond butter. A coffee grinder works great for this (you may prefer to have a separate one that you label for "nuts only". Be careful when cleaning not to get water in the wrong areas!). Grind almonds and a few cashews in the grinder. (Cashews help to cream the almonds - most recipes call for adding oil. I've found cashews will do the trick, and taste less oily.) Add to blender with fresh water. Blend. straining optional.




Portions will be to taste. When making it with purchased almond butter, I use one tablespoon per just over a cup of water. When making my own almond butter (which I do most often) I use 1/4 cup raw almonds (not soaked), 4 whole raw cashews (not soaked), and between 2 to 2 1/4 cups water. I also like to add a touch of sea salt (which gives it body, not saltiness), and a bit of agave for sweetening.

It's been a while since I used soaked almonds (which won't make an almond butter). I do understand that soaked ones are more nutritious, and more digestible. I just don't like the taste of the milk, nor all the work straining, and cleaning up afterwards. I *think* it was 1/2 cup almonds per cup water, but I could be remembering wrong.  A search online may bring you a recipe to your liking.

Have fun!

:~)

3 comments:

Suasoria said...

What kind of coffee grinder do you have? Mine is so small I can't imagine using it for more than a half cup or so.

But I popped in to say is it me, or have the Goneraw forums been wiped out?? I see you're logged in...

~pixx said...

HI!! :~)

Mine is small. I only do about a pint of mylk at a time, so it handles what I need, when I do it that way.

I'll admit to being lazy sometimes, and not pre-grinding into nut-butter, just tossing into a small amount of water with the salt and sweetener (I've switched from agave, over to raw honey, since this post - no, not vegan, of course.) then adding more water when it gets creamy. I've also changed the nuts I use. My fav right now is a combo of walnut and coconut creme (from Tropical Traditions). Macadamia and coconut creme is my bf fav. Brazil and coconut creme is good too! All three of those blend way creamier than almonds do. I still pre-grind the almonds, because it tastes best; nicer texture (since I hate to strain)!

~pixx said...

I didn't notice any issues over at GoneRaw lately. I have an unfortunate tendency to keep a tab open from various sites, so I often look logged in when I am not. Seems fine now...