I went from amazed, to
disappointed, to thrilled with my first almond milk attempt. I followed directions from another blog that
said the taste of plain almond milk was great.
So despite the overnight almond soak, I was super impressed with how
quick and easy it was to make. Then I
tasted it. Almonds soaked in water and
blended tastes like almond water. I
don’t know what I was expecting, but it wasn’t that, and I knew my picky
two-year-old, who still talks about “cow milk” to this day, would not stand for
this attempt. Since I’d read about
honey, vanilla, dates, etc., I started flavoring by adding a teaspoon of honey.
Then I tried adding a splash of vanilla.
Neither ingredient was very helpful.
Hours later, after talking to a friend, I checked my remaining carton of
almond milk to see what magical ingredient I was missing. I prayed I was not craving some preservative
or chemical. Low and behold: SALT! I threw a dash into my pitcher and stirred. I can’t believe salt is the answer, but it
is! Fortunately, not much is
required.
Immediately I began
soaking almonds for the next test batch because my honey-vanilla, lightly
salted quart of almond milk is almost gone!
Why make almond milk
yourself?
- The added vitamins in store brand almond milk are synthetic. Our bodies don’t always absorb them, and they can lead to many health problems. http://theprimalparent.com/2012/05/16/additives-almond-milk-how-to-make/
- An article I read by an almond farmer said that he could tell the difference between ages of almonds by looking at them. Pasteurization allows older almonds to be considered “healthy” and used in all kinds of products.
- Raw almonds are essentially illegal to sell right now due to past salmonella outbreaks. Almonds can be pasteurized in a few different ways, but even “raw” almonds have, at the very least, been steamed. At worst, they are treated with a toxic chemical called propylene oxide. (According to one source, Almond Breeze almonds are steam pasteurized. Sigh of relief!) If you buy your own, you can check your source…Trader Joe’s almonds are steam treated. http://foodidentitytheft.com/trying-to-avoid-almonds-that-are-gassed-heres-a-little-guide/ (for more information)
Forgive me for getting political… The government
has done some great things for us, like mandating that food labels have
ingredient lists and nutrition facts. On
the other hand, they are prone to legislating things like pasteurization that seem
to solve one problem while creating tons of others! Frankly, real, natural food has become so
expensive that most families have no choice but to accept the chemicals in
processed food. This leads us to have
more and more health problems that make us more dependent on increasingly
expensive health care that the practically bankrupt government feels the need
to pick up the tab for. And with the
government getting their fingers into our healthcare, can we expect
improvement, or just more cheap and quick solutions that end up causing
problems? End sermon. Thank you in advance for not biting my head
off if you disagree.
After a few trial batches,
here is my tested and toddler-approved almond milk recipe!
Almond Milk (with Almond Meal and/or Almond Flour)
1 Cup of almonds, soaked
overnight
4 cups of water
A dash of salt
1 tsp Vanilla (pure tastes
way better than imitation)
1 Tbsp Honey
Cinnamon and other spices
as desired (chocolate?)
Blender, some kind of
filter, pitcher or jar
1. Soak almonds in
filtered water for about 24 hours.
(Soaking makes a HUGE difference.
The longer you can afford to soak, the better, though you can
theoretically soak for an hour or not at all.)
2. Strain off soaking
water. Put almonds in a really good
blender with one cup of filtered water.
(Just one if you don’t want water to start leaking out the top! Maybe that was just my problem.) Blend until almonds are in pretty tiny
pieces.
3. Add three more cups of
water and pulse to combine.
4. Using cheese cloth or a
nut milk bag,
strain the almond pulp into a pitcher, squeezing out the remaining water.
5. Stir in salt, vanilla,
honey, and other spices. Milk should
keep in the refrigerator for 3-4 days.
Makes about a quart.
Don’t stop now!
You can…
- Add your almond pulp right into smoothies for texture and any left over protein. Supposedly it will freeze well.
- Dehydrate by spreading on a cookie sheet and baking for about an hour at 170 degrees F. This “almond meal” would be very useful for making almond crusted fish or chicken. Or you can
- put the almond meal back into the (dry) blender for a few more seconds to turn into almond flour.
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