Making Almond Milk

Making almond milk is so easy I can teach it to my 5 year old grandson.  I use to buy it all the time - now I make it.  The taste is so much better because you're making it fresh, and you can make as much or little as needed.

 Soaking the almonds

Add nuts to blender

Add filtered water

Blend

Pour through a fine strainer

Press it through or use a nut bag and squeeze out the milk

Left-over nut pulp (refrigerate or freeze until ready to use) 

You can use the raw pulp for bake goods or use a dehydrator/oven to dry it out and make almond meal.  Once it's dried out it will last longer.

DONE!

Drink! 

 If you like it flavored add a little vanilla extract, and for sweetness - pour a little maple syrup or blend in some madjool dates, just pour milk back into the blender and add the ingredients.

 
Main Ingredients:

* (1) Cup raw almonds
* (4) Cups filtered water 
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For sweetness: Optional add-ins
* Madjool dates 
* Maple syrup 
* Vanilla extract or fresh pods 

Equipment: 

* Large fine strainer or nut bag
* Rubber spatula (for pressing down the pulp)
* Large bowl or pitcher - with wide opening  
* Container/jar to hold milk


Directions:


First: get a small/med bowl add (1)cup of almonds and fill with the cold filtered water covering the top of almonds - they will expand.  Let the almonds sit over-night or for at least 6-8 hours - some people do it for as long as 24hours.  If you let it sit for 24hrs, I'd suggest you change out the water half-way at 12hrs.  I like to let mine sit for 10 -12hrs I think the longer the better the almond flavor comes through.  After soaking, rinse the almonds until the water is clear, then add to the blender.  Pour in filtered water and blend for a few minutes until almonds are all completely crushed and it looks very milky.  Get your bowl/pitcher and strainer ready and pour your milk slowly through strainer, take your spatula and start to press down on the pulp until you get as much of the milk through.  If using a nut bag, place bag over top of bowl/pitcher, pour in milk and start to squeeze down on the bag slowly from the top until you get all the milk down.  You can discard the pulp, freeze it for later use, and bake (cookies, cake or muffins).  You can even make a raw dip out of it (recipe later).  Use for smoothies, baking or just plain drinking.

Note: the amount of almonds to water will give you about (4) cups of almond milk (a nice full-bodied consistency).  You can also add a couple more cups of water for a thinner milk in-which will give you more almond milk.

Refrigeration: up to 4/5 days.  Some refrigerate only 3 or 7 days.  place in the back of the refrigerator so that the milk will get very cold and stay fresh for as long as possible.