Homemade Almond Milk Recipe

 

I was recently inspired to make my own Almond milk! My family has been drinking Almond milk instead of “Cow” milk, as my kids call it, for about a year now. I mostly buy organic almond milk, especially ones with few ingredients and no Carrageenan in it. Even the simplest forms of Almond Milk have 5+ ingredients in it. If I made my own, then it would only have almonds, water and dates.

 

I have family that has an almond farm, so I am always given a huge bag at Christmas time when we meet up. Make sure you use filtered water when making the milk and you can sweeten the milk with dates and/or honey. This recipe was inspired from Natures Nurture recipe!

 

I soaked 2 cups of almonds in a mason jar, in room temperature filtered water that covered the nuts by an inch. I let them soak all day or you can let them soak overnight. Next, drain the water and rinse the almonds, and add the almonds to a blender. Add 8 cups of new filtered water to your blender. BLEND—BLEND—BLEND. Once the mixture was well blended, I added 3 dates to sweeten it a little and blended for a little longer. My milk became a little foamy on top. You can drink the milk as is, but it is gritty. I thought it tasted amazing, but the texture was a little weird. I think this would be great in smoothies where the texture wouldn’t matter.

 

If you want your almond milk smooth, you need to keep going. Next you will need a large strainer, a large bowl, and nut cloth or multiple layers of cheese cloth. Place your cheese cloth over the strainer and the strainer over a bowl or pitcher and pour your almond milk in it. The liquid will start to drip through. Depending on how big your cheesecloth and strainer is, the process can take a while. If you want, you can squeeze the milk through with your hand. The almond meal stays in the cloth and the milk is left in your bowl or pitcher.

 

If you want to use the almond meal later, you will need to dry it out in a dehydrator or in the oven on the lowest setting with the door open to release moisture. This can take a few hours and requires frequent stirring for equal drying. My almond meal was lumpy as it was drying so when it was mostly dry I tossed it in the blender and it turned into powder form. In the end you are left with will both almond milk and almond flour! The flour can be used in many vegan recipes.

 

I look forward to making my almond milk on a more consistent basis. I only had a small strainer when I made this, so I had to pour out the mixture in sections, which took a lot longer. Also, this recipe creates quite a bit of almond milk so you can cut it in half. The milk will last about a week in your fridge. With my recipe, I ended up with two full mason jars of smooth almond milk.