Making your own almond milk is surprisingly easy and quite frankly addictive. I've been drinking almond milk for years, but with my growing distrust of carrageenan, an ingredient in processed almond milk which is known to disrupt the digestive track and cause internal inflammation, I'm growing weary of commercial brands. In fact, after reading the ingredients on the labels of my almond milk containers, I was taken aback by the number of ingredients I wasn't able to identify.
No more mystery milk for me!
After experimenting with a number of recipes, I fell in love with this one. I am a big fan of creamy vanilla flavored slightly sweetened almond milk, this recipe caters to that.
Ingredients:
1 cup raw organic almonds
2 cups purified water
1 tablespoon raw honey
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
pinch of sea salt
You'll Need:
Blender
Mason Jar
Strainer or cheesecloth
First you need to soak your almonds in a glass bowl for up to two days (no less than one night). I use two parts of water for one part almonds. The longer you soak your almonds the creamier the milk, so if you like thinner milk (think skim), you'll want to soak overnight, but if you enjoy a whole milk texture, you'll want to soak for two nights.
Next, you'll need to drain the water from the almonds before placing the soaked almonds in your blender. Add to the blender the purified water, raw honey, vanilla extract and sea salt.
Blend these ingredients together until the liquid is creamy. Note, there will be a bit of froth at the top and your grated almonds will settle to the bottom, but the liquid in the center should be creamy and even. Strain the milk from the almond meal at the bottom using a cheesecloth or strainer.
Store your almond milk in a mason jar. Note- fresh almond milk will only last about three days in your refrigerator (hence the small batch recipe). You will want to begin the prep work for your next batch immediately.
The almond meal is a delicious additive in a bowl of cereal or oatmeal. It also adds a wonderful nutty flavor to baked goods like chocolate chip cookies and seasonal breads aka- pumpkin!
