Home Made Vegan Raw Almond Milk

To make fresh raw almond milk:

• 1 cup organic raw almonds soaked for 12 hours (this is optional)
• 3 cups of purified water

You will want to use a 2:1 or 3:1 ratio – 2 or 3 cups of purified water for every cup of raw soaked almonds, depending on your preference.

1. Place the raw almonds in a glass bowl or large jar, and cover with filtered water and 1 tsp Celtic sea salt for about 12 hours. (Refer to my page about soaking, dehydrating, and sprouting, to learn more about the digestive benefits of soaking nuts).
2. Rinse the nuts several times to remove any of the anti-nutrients and enzyme inhibitors. If soaking for the full 12 hours, make sure you rinse and soak a few times. Any nuts that float to the top have probably gone rancid, so discard them to be safe. It is not uncommon to have a few floaters. The almonds will have swelled with water and look a lot more plump.
3. Put almonds and water in a high speed blender and start blending at low speed. Quickly accelerate to high speed until all of the nuts are completely pulverized. You can drink this without straining if you like rustic whole milk. This is the way I drink and use it. It has more calcium if not strained. But blend thoroughly and then strain if desired.
4. To achieve the texture of a smoother, more pasteurized-like milk you will need to strain the milk with a nut bag, cheesecloth, or sieve with the smallest holes. I must say that a nut bag is the going to yield the smoothest results. You can find these easily from health food stores or from raw online stores. Make sure you wash the bag as soon as you are done so you can reuse again and again. To strain: place a nut bag, cheese cloth or even clean knee high hosery over the opening of a glass container, large jar or jug. Pour small amounts of almond milk into the cloth and then squeeze it like a cow teet until every last drop is out. Then remove the almond pulp, set aside and keep repeating the process. Make sure you squeeze the cloth to get the last bit of liquid out. This is the creamiest yummiest bit of the milk so don’t miss out on that!
5. Don’t waste the almond meal. Save it and dehydrate it, and then use the almond meal for other recipes such as smoothies, crusts, cookies, nut butter, breadcrumbs etc
6. If you would like to drink this milk on it’s own, I have listed some suggestions for sweetening and enhancing the flavour. Jazz this up with whatever floats your almond boat, and you will not be disappointed. Store in a glass jar in the fridge if you are going to keep for later. It will keep for few days in a very cold fridge. Read at the bottom of this post for some general tips on home-made nut milks.

Here are some suggestions:

• 1 tsp alcohol free pure vanilla extract
• 4 Tbsp of agave nectar, maple syrup, coconut sugar OR 3-6 pitted dates OR a few drops of Stevia

OR

• You could add a few drops of natural alcohol-free almond extract/essence
• 3 tsp organic maple syrup

For a richer, creamier milk: you could add 1 Tbsp unrefined coconut butter or raw almond butter and 1 Tbsp non GM lecithin in addition to your flavourings.

• For Chocolate Almond Milk just add in a couple of Tbsp of raw cocoa powder or raw cacao nibs, 1 tsp vanilla extract and Celtic sea salt
• For Cinnamon Milk – add in 1 tsp of ground cinnamon, 1 tsp vanilla and Celtic sea salt
• For Strawberry Almond Milk – add in the desired amount of strawberries with the vanilla and sea salt

You get the drift – the sky is the limit. Get nutty with almonds and you will be in heaven!

** For more General Information about Home Made Nut Milks head to my Vegan Nut Milks page.