We go through a lot of almond milk. I use it in all of my baking. I drink it in my flavoured coffee. We use it to make turmeric tea. But the one thing I don’t do is drink it on its own. I find that the store bought almond milk has a bit of a chalky taste, so I use it in place of milk, but don’t drink it like milk. I had read that you could make your own almond milk, so I wanted to give it a try.

I came across this recipe and it looked pretty easy. I figured I would give it a go. Luckily for us, I had all the ingredients on hand. In fact, there is nothing out of the ordinary to make this. Almonds, dates, vanilla bean, cinnamon and nutmeg. That is it! 🙂

I poured the almonds into a glass jar and covered them with water. Now it was just a waiting game, as I had to let them soak overnight. It kind of reminded me of the wait to make homemade baked beans.

I have attached here an article on soaking almonds.

The next day when I went to make the milk, I was kind of grossed out by the stuff that was coming off the almonds. Yuck! It was like they were soaking in this cloudy, brown water. Let me tell you, I will definitely think twice before I grab a handful of raw un-soaked almonds.

I immediately drained the almonds and rinsed them off. I took the dates out of the pantry and my mind went to the date muffins that I had made a few months ago. When I made the date muffins, I soaked the dates in boiling water, and then used that water to sweeten the batter. I could do the same thing with the almond milk! So, I soaked the dates and incorporated that sweetened water into the milk.

The process of making almond milk is simple. Once you soak and rinse off your almonds, you just throw everything in the food processor and blend on the highest speed for about 5 minutes. From there, you strain your milk (to get out the almond pulp*) throw it back in a blender; add in some cinnamon, nutmeg and salt. That is it. Store it in the fridge for three to five days.

You can actually get bags designed specifically for making nut milk (called a nut milk bag) 😉  , but I just used a cheesecloth bag that came with one of my canning kits. It worked well. I have heard from some people that homemade nut milk is chunky, but by straining out the pulp using a fine mesh bag, it was just as smooth as the store-bought almond milk.

This is so delicious! Jamie and I devoured this almond milk. And we didn’t mix it with anything; we drank it just as is. It is sweet and a bit spicy. It is definitely a treat.

I won’t make this on a regular basis, as it really is more expensive than buying the cartons at the store; however, it is the perfect brunch treat to serve guests. Maybe with some homemade granola?!?

*We kept the nut pulp. We roasted it in the oven and incorporated it into the last batch of almond butter that we made. However, I think that making the almond milk removed the natural oils from the almonds, because this last batch of nut butter had to have almond oil added to it before it turned a buttery consistency. We have never had to do that before. So, next time, I will still keep the pulp, but will incorporate it into the almond butter to make it chunky.

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Adapted from:
Oh She Glows – Angela Liddon
My Favourite Homemade Almond Milk

Ingredients:

• 1 cup raw almonds, soaked in water
• 2.5 cups filtered water
• 4 pitted dates, soaked in 1 cup boiling water (keep water)
• 1 whole vanilla bean
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp nutmeg
• pinch of sea salt

Directions:

1. Place almonds in a jar and cover with water. Soak almonds overnight.
2. Rinse and drain the almonds and place into a food processor along with the filtered water, soaked dates, date water and vanilla bean.
3. Blend on highest speed for 1 minute or so.
4. Place a cheesecloth bag over a large bowl and slowly pour the almond milk mixture into the bag. Gently squeeze the bottom of the bag to release the milk.
5. Pour your milk into a blender and add in the cinnamon, nutmeg and pinch of sea salt.  Blend on low to combine.
6. Pour into a glass jar to store in the fridge for up to 3-5 days. Shake jar very well before using as the mixture separates when sitting.
7. Enjoy – this is amazing!