Make Almond Milk at Home

If you are on a dairy free diet, you have no doubt sampled the variety of alternative milks available on the market. Many are delicious, but they also can cost quite a bit, especially if you are buying for the whole family. You can make your own at home though, saving quite a bit of money in the process. You can also control the consistency and flavor of the milk to make it just how you would like it.

I have chosen to go over how to make almond milk for this article. Almonds are very nutritious. They are a good source of calcium, phosphorus, magnesium, folic acid and zinc. They are also the world's highest whole food source of Vitamin E, which is antioxidant believed to help prevent cancer. Almond milk is delicious as well, so you can see why it is a winner in my house.

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup almonds
• 4 cups water
• 1 Tbsp. - 1/4 cup of sugar, brown sugar, or agave
• 1 tsp. vanilla (optional)

Tools:

• High speed blender such as a Blendtec or Vitamix
• Nut bag (for straining)
• Pitcher

The first thing you will need to do is soak your almonds. I generally put mine in a mixing bowl or 4-cup measuring cup filled with water before heading to bed. A soak of anywhere from 9-12 hours is good. I have gotten busy before and had mine soaking for a few hours longer though, and they were just fine. If you forgot to soak, and really want to get some almond milk going, you can drop them into boiling water for 1-2 minutes, and then strain them. This will make it so your almond milk is not raw though and you will lose some of the nutritional value, so it is best to soak if you can.

The next step that I take is purely optional. I save my almond pulp to use as flour for some of the gluten free baking I do. I like some of the almond flour to be of a finer quality, which requires that the skins not be in the mix. To do this, I peel the almonds before dropping them into the blender. Peeling the almonds is not very hard, especially if your almonds are relatively fresh. I like to pinch the almond between my thumb and the side of my pointer finger while twisting the almond slightly, almost like you are snapping your fingers with the almond between them. It usually pops right out of the skin. Be careful though, my daughter has shot almonds across the kitchen a few times while helping me out. If it doesn't matter to you either way, go ahead and skip this step.

Put all of the soak, and possibly peeled, almonds into the blender.

Pour 4 cups of cool water into the blender. The amount of water you choose to use is entirely up to your taste. However, do not put more than 4 cups in your blender. I tried putting 5 cups in mine one time, and my kitchen received a shower of almond pulp. I would not recommend it. I use 4 cups, since that gives the consistency I like. If you prefer your milk to be thicker, just use less water.

Blend the almonds and water well. I use the "Whole Juice" button on my Blendtec blender. If you are timing it, approximately 1 minute should be a good amount of time, but you may need to test that and see what works best with your blender.

Fit your nut bag onto the pitcher. If you don't have a nut bag and would like to make on, check out my other hubs for easy instructions on one you can sew yourself.

Pour the liquid from the blender into the nut bag. The almond milk will start straining into the pitcher. Leave it alone for about 10-15 minutes while it does its thing.

After the 10-15 minutes are up, or slightly sooner if you are impatient like me, gather up the edges of your nut bag. Starting from the top and pulling down, squeeze out all the almond milk you can.

The almond pulp is wonderful for drying out for almond flour. Put it on a dehydrator sheet, or even spread it onto a plate, to dry it out.

Now all you need to do is mix in any additional water you want, sugar, and vanilla, if desired. My favorite sugar sources to use are brown sugar and agave. White cane sugar will keep the milk bright white though, if you don't want it to take on a slightly tan color. I have also tried Sucunat, but found the flavor of that sugar to be overpowering to the flavor of the almonds, which I did not like. Vanilla adds a depth of flavor to the milk which is really nice.

I prefer to store my finished almond milk in quart-size canning jars with plastic screw-on caps. It can also be left in the pitcher you strained it into, topped with a lid, just fine. The almond milk is best used within 4-5 days.