Almond Milk

I have been using almond milk a lot lately and in a lot of instances in substitution to cows milk (this doesn't work in all recipes).  Almond milk isn't ridiculously expensive but it is definitely less expensive to make than to buy.  So I did some research and after buying a couple of items (nut milk bag, glass pitcher, and raw almonds) I was ready to make my own.  I was surprised at how incredibly simple this was to do.  You will need a quality blender to be able to do this though, I use a blendtec.

The glass pitcher arrived :)

You can tell that I am still waiting for my airtight glass pitcher to come in the mail, until then this is what my milk will have to be stored in :)

This is a nut milk bag.  It is kind of like a mesh material so it allows the milk to pass through but the holes are very small so that no sediments get through it into the milk.  It is reusable as well.

Almond Milk (or any nut or seed milk)

1 cup raw almonds

4 cups water

1-2 teaspoons agave or honey

*Optional ingredients 

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions

Soak 1 cup of almonds in 2 cups of water over night or for 8-12 hours.  Dry your almonds and place them in your blender and add 4 cups water, honey, and salt and vanilla if using.  (I made mine with vanilla extract this morning and was not a fan.  I will not be using vanilla again when I make this, I think the flavor is too strong.) Turn your blender on to a high speed setting, for a blendtec I went to speed 10 for 30 seconds and then pulsed for an additional 10 seconds.  Now dump all of the milk through the nut milk bag into a large glass bowl and kneed out all of the milk. Once no more milk runs through the bag and you are just left with almond meal you are done!  It is so simple.  Just store your milk in some airtight glass containers and use within 7-10 days.  

Makes 1 quart

*I made this again today and I liked how this weeks batch tasted much better than last weeks.  This week I didn't soak the almonds and I didn't add any vanilla.  I have discovered through sprouting that I probably didn't like the flavor that the almonds took on after soaking them for several hours.  And the biggest difference I think was the vanilla.  The vanilla flavoring was much too strong for my liking.