Do you want to know how to make almond milk at home?
It’s very, very easy to make your own almond milk, so if you’re used to buying it at the store, have a think about making it yourself instead. You can also use a high powered blender for this, if you don’t have a thermomix.
Almond milk can be used instead of cow’s milk for anyone who has lactose intolerance and does very well in smoothies, desserts and on cereal. In fact, just about anywhere you would normally use cow’s milk, you can use almond milk.
It fits into a paleo diet, a vegetarian or vegan diet, just about any eating plan really. I often use almond milk and raw cow’s milk when I make a healthy ‘milkshake’ for my kids.
How to make almond milk
- Start by measuring out 1 cup of raw almonds.
- Cover the almonds with filtered water (you can use tap water if your tap water is high quality) and soak them for 24 hours. If it’s hot weather soak them in the fridge for up to 48 hours instead.
- Drain the almonds and place them in your thermomix/blender. Add 3 cups of filtered water, a splash of vanilla and a date.
- Run your thermomix on speed 9 for two minutes. If using a blender, crank it up to high speed and let it go for 2 or 3 minutes.
- Place a sieve over a deep bowl and line the sieve with a fine cheesecloth.
- Pour your liquid almonds into the sieve and let them drain. Once they’ve stopped dripping, gather up the corners of your cloth and squeeze any remaining liquid out of the pulp.
- Pour your almond milk into a glass container and store in the fridge.
Now you are left with some very finely ground, wet almond pulp, see below.
Image by CatJB
Spread it out on a tray and dry it at a low temperature in your oven.
You can use this pulp to………..make paleo banana bread, make paleo brownies, feed it to your chooks or compost it.
A word about RAW almonds
Here in Australia we can still get truly raw almonds.
That means straight out of the shell, into a bag, straight to you.
BUT, in America, you can no longer buy raw almonds that are grown in America. Due to a salmonella outbreak, the Power’s That Be have decreed all almonds must be pasteurized. BUT, these pasteurized almonds are still allowed to be labelled raw, even though they are technically no longer raw.
You can read here about the deleterious effects of pasteurizing almonds, in essence though, the oils are damaged and turn rancid and the enzymes are destroyed. If you live in America and wish to purchase truly raw almonds, buy an imported brand labelled raw, and they WILL be raw.