Make your own Almond Milk

Have you got a carton of Almond milk in the fridge or pantry right now? Check out the ingredients list and keep reading- when you find out how easy is it to make your own nut milk you'll rarely buy it again. Most brands are about 3% almonds and the rest is mainly water, and a little oil, a little rice malt or agave syrup and salt. I have been buying Pure Harvest lately which is 10% almonds, better... but still mostly water. And I do keep a litre in the pantry for almond milk emergencies :) 

Before I tried making my own nut milk I thought I was far too busy for that but it turns out I'm not, it's actually very very simple, quick and easy. 

Here's the almond milk how to list, with a few tips. The biggest challenge is deciding what to cook with the left over pulp (don't you dare throw it out!) 

If you're really into almonds (like I am) then ask your local health food store if you can buy them in bulk. I buy 10kg boxes and split them with a friend- it ends up being about 50% cheaper than buying almonds at the supermarket. You can then use them for almond milk, almond meal, and snacks.

 

WHAT YOU NEED: 

-2 cups of Almonds

-4 cups of Water (Filtered, ideally) 

 

HOW TO: 

1. Soak the Almonds in the water for 12-24 hours. (I usually soak them at night, and leave them until after work the next day- so it ends up being about 20 hours)

2. Drain the 'soaking' water. In a food processor or a blender, add the almonds with about 3 cups of fresh water and blitz for a couple of minutes until combined. Add more water until the texture is about right for milk- more water equals more almond milk but the flavour is diluted so just find what's right for you. 

3. Next you need to strain out the pulp. I do this with a hessian cloth bag, but if you want to try using a sieve that will work too. The liquid that comes out is the creamiest almond milk you've ever tasted and the pulp is leftover.

 

There's a lot of nutrition and goodness left in the pulp so make sure you don't waste it. Here are our favourite ideas for using the pulp: 

 

Almond Meal:

Spread it out on a baking tray and dry it in the oven (160C) for about 15 mins. You can then use it as almond meal in baking... biscuits, loaves, banana bread, bliss balls etc

Cacao Crunch:

Or, follow the same steps above and then make our Cacao Crunch- recipe here

Hummus Dip:

Lastly you could make a hummus dip- Add 2 parts chickpeas and 1 part almond 'pulp' to the food processor. Add olive oil, lemon rind and juice, salt and pepper and you've got instant hummus.

 

ALMOND MILK CHAI LATTE

This is 2/3 chai tea made with water and 1/3 almond milk, with cinnamon on top. To make it extra rich you could brew the tea with almond milk in a pot on the stove, add a dash of honey and then strain the tea leaves before serving. This is how my Mum makes it and it's delicious! 

 

 

The Almond Milk will keep in a glass jar in the fridge for 3 days.