Fresh Almond Milk

At our cooking club recently, my friend Maliha mentioned that she had been making her own almond milk at home. This intrigued me. Although we drink regular milk, I do enjoy the taste of almond milk on cereal, especially steel-cut oats, and in coffee. It is very creamy and has a nice nutty flavor.

Making almond milk from scratch turned out to be surprisingly easy. You do need a good quality blender and some cheesecloth. For the best results, you'll need to soak the almonds for 2 days prior to blending.

Ingredients:

• 1 C. good quality whole almonds
• cold water for soaking
• 2 C. filtered water for blending

Place the almonds in a bowl and cover with cold water. Leave on the counter for up to 2 days. 

The longer the almonds soak, the creamier the milk will be. As the almonds soak, the water will become cloudy. This is normal. It is not necessary to change the water, although you certainly can.

When you are ready to make the almond milk, drain the almonds and rinse with cold water until the water runs clear.

Place the almonds in a blender with 2 C. of filtered water. 

Begin blending slowly so that the almonds are able to break up. 

Bring the blender to its highest setting and blend for 2 minutes. 

Place a strainer over a bowl or large measuring cup. Line the strainer with cheesecloth. Slowly pour the almond milk over the cheesecloth. 

Use a spoon to push the milk through the cheesecloth. 

Then, make the cheesecloth into a ball and squeeze the remaining milk out. 

There should be about 2 C. almond milk. 

The remaining paste in the cheesecloth is called almond meal. It can be stored in the refrigerator for a few days or dried in a low oven for several hours. It can be used in recipes for breads, muffins, granola, etc.

I like the almond milk plain, but you can easily flavor it with vanilla or sweeten it with honey or maple syrup.

Store the almond milk in the refrigerator. It will only keep for a few days (but that's not a problem in our house).