How to Make Almond Milk

October 22nd, 2008

To be honest, I usually buy my almond milk…but I’m trying to make my own more often, because it’s fresh and I know exactly what goes into it. It’s pretty simple (only a couple ingredients) and pretty quick too. If you want to know why in the world people would drink “milk” made from almonds, check out my post Spotlight on Almonds. I plan to write something comparing cow’s milk to almond milk to soy milk (etc.) sometime soon…but that one’s taking a little extra energy.

The Basic Recipe:

4 cups filtered water

1 cup almonds, soaked in filtered water (4 hours or more)

pinch sea salt

1/4 to 1/2 cup agave, raw honey, or soft dates

vanilla or almond extract

Step 1: Add Almonds and Water

I chose to make a smaller batch, so I used 1/2 cup almonds (previously soaked in water, now dry) and 2 cups of filtered water. If you use less water or more almonds, your milk will be thicker and “creamier.”

Add almonds and water to the blender.

Step 2: Blend

Step 3: Strain the Milk

You can buy special nut milk bags online, but I’ve never used those. All you really need is super fine mesh. You can use multiple layers of cheesecloth or, my favorite, cut off nylons. You can’t get mesh much finer than that, eh?

I cut off the bottom of nylons and put the cut off side over the rim of a container, like this:

Then, I just pour the almond milk, pulp and all, into the strainer:

Step 4: Squeeze out the Milk:

Just like milking a cow, right….?

Step 5: Return to Blender:

You don’t have to do this step, but I like to. I rinse out the blender, and pour the newly strained almond milk back in to thoroughly mix in the other ingredients. You could just stir them in by hand if you want to.

I add a pinch of sea salt, some agave nectar, and some vanilla extract, then blend it all up. You may notice that the almond milk looks less white here. This is because I added a LOT of vanilla extract. I was planning to use this batch in a smoothie, so I figured it would be really tasty if it had lots of vanilla flavor.

Step 6: Enjoy!

Here’s a little cup of almond milk…Again, I know it looks kind of like dirty water. But really, that’s only because I had to go and add loads of vanilla extract to it. If you only add a little bit, it really should look nice and white.

4 Responses to “How to Make Almond Milk”

Lenae
October 22nd, 2008 at 4:07 pm

This looks yummy! I’m totally trying it!
Carol
October 22nd, 2008 at 5:29 pm

With a Vitamixer all you have to do is add 1 c. almonds (raw) with 3 c. of water and blend for 3 minutes and voila, you have almond milk. I don’t even add salt or sweetener, or vanilla. I use it all the time.
Margaret
October 22nd, 2008 at 5:33 pm

yes…I’ve had my eye on those vitamix blenders for a while now. But just my eye…they’re too expensive for the rest of me. Does the almond milk taste grainy at all when you don’t strain it?
Carol
October 22nd, 2008 at 6:50 pm

With the Vitamixer it blends it real well. No grainy texture. I’ve been told that it’s the only machine that does that because of its high power. Also, I don’t drink it by itself - always mixed with something else like smoothies or on cereal or in a menu.

This Marvelous Life