Almond Milk
Makes 1 quart
Freshly made almond milk is unbelievably easy to make and the flavor surpasses commercially prepared aseptic packaged almond milk found in grocery stores which are often high in sodium or made with extra sweetener. All it takes are almonds and water along with a blender (a high-speed VitaMix is the ultimate machine), a nut milk filtering bag for straining the gritty fiber, and a glass jar for storing the finished nut milk in the refrigerator. While technically the nut milk could be strained through cheesecloth, albeit rather messy, buying a nut milk filtering bag will be one of the best kitchen tool purchases you have ever made to make silky textured almond milk very quickly. Inexpensive at less than $10, it is reusable and extremely easy to clean-I usually wash and rinse directly it under the faucet and let it hang to dry.
The excellent nut milk filtering bag made from high quality, fine-mesh nylon that I purchased from Amazon.com.
- 1 cup raw almonds
- 4 cups water
Place almonds and water in the blender. Cover and blend the mixture for 2 minutes or until creamy. Suspend the nut milk bag (or cheesecloth folded into a bag) over a bowl. Pour the almond milk into the nut milk bag and squeeze the bag to extract all the almond milk from the almond meal fiber. Transfer the almond milk to a glass jar or container with a tight lid, and, for best flavor, refrigerate for an hour or two before drinking as a beverage or using as you would dairy milk over cereal, in baking, or in cooking.
Note: If using a standard kitchen blender and not a high-speed blender like a VitaMix, for best results, first soak almonds in the water called for in the recipe overnight or for 6-8 hours in the refrigerator before blending.
Use within 2–4 days.
Other Options
For different flavored nut milks, substitute almonds with other nuts such as hazelnuts, pecans, or cashews. In fact, there is no need to strain cashew milk-just blend, refrigerate, and enjoy.
Blend in a some fruit to make a naturally sweeter drink or smoothie (think bananas, strawberries, etc.)
