Almond Milk

by | Mar 8, 2013 | food, nature, peasant foods, raw, simple living | 0 comments

I was writing a recipe to a friend that calls for spent almond meal that is left over from making almond milk, when I realized I do not have a post on how to make almond milk (gasp!)  and also what myriad of things one can do with the delicious (and commercially expensive) almond meal!

308909_10151861812151808_313318340_n

I started using almond milk because I got skeeved out about drinking regular milk after industrial alfalfa went GMO.   Eventually, I did the math on almond milk. Turns out that almond milk is somewhere between $5-$8/gal, conventional, not organic. Organic almond milk is on the $7-$9/gal scale and, well, that’s just more money than I want to pay for what I get.

Almond meal, a byproduct of almond milk, runs between $12-$14/lb. I love using almond meal as a protein source in breakfast items, granola (and granola bars), seed & nut balls, cakes or as pie crust. I am often able to replace 1/3-1/2 of the wheat flour of baked goods with almond meal, which is better for the body, since I’m pretty sure some corporation has ruined wheat.  These days, I try to omit wheat altogether, but occasionally, a girl needs a pancake.

So I can usually find almonds in the bulk bin for about $6/lb.  When I can afford organic, they run about $8-$9/lb, but because the almond is a drupe (not technically a nut, nor technically a seed) it grows in a peach-like fruit, in which if it is sprayed with pesticide, it is not touching the “nut”.

1lb will give me a bit less than a gallon’s worth of creamy milk (or a generous gallon of milk similar to commercially prepared) and about a half pound of toasted almond meal. I don’t really feel like doing the math on it, but you can see it’s already a bargain AND I don’t have packaging to donate to the land fill or recycle (I’m not sure almond milk cartons even can be recycled).

In any case, making nut or seed milk is super duper easy.

 Homemade Almond MIlk

Just remember: 3:1 ratio, water to nut

Ingredients

  1. 3c water
  2. 1c almonds

Preparation

  1. Soak almonds in water overnight. Many people prefer to use filtered water for this. Our tap water is pretty good, or at least I think it is, so I use that. You make your own choice about it.
  2. In the morning, drain off the almond water. I have occasionally used this water in my houseplants.
  3. Rinse almonds.
  4. Place almonds in blender. Add just enough water to keep the nuts moving and grinding. Start off on the lowest speed and increase speed slowly until you are at the highest speed, adding only a little water at a time until the blender has about 4 cups of liquid in it. (about 3c water and 1c meal)
  5. Pour the ground almonds and water into a nut milk bag. squeeze out all the water and fats into a bowl.
  6. Return the nuts back into the blender and repeat entire process with one more cup of water. Squeeze milk into the bowl.
  7. You should be left with about a cup of almond meal.

Variations

Try this with other seeds and nuts. There are many variations!

Preparation time: 10 minute(s)

Cooking time: none

Diet tags: Raw

Number of servings (yield): 4

Rating 5 :  ★★★★★ 1 review(s)

I have heard rumors of delicious pumpkin seed milk, or sunflower seed milk. I have dreamed of making pistachio milk!  I can’t think of a nut or seed that wouldn’t be worth trying, anyway! If you should have experience with it, or experiment with it, let me know how it goes! Enjoy it!

 

Submit a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *