Basics: homemade almond milk

I remember the time when I couldn’t stand the taste of almonds; for some reason it didn’t do it for me. Now, after all this intolerance nonsense that cause my migraines, I have come to good terms with it since it’s a fantastic alternative to normal milk (which I don’t like the taste of per se).

Back in Caracas I used to make my own almond milk because it was impossible to find it in stores but when I moved to Madrid I found in the «natural» stores sugar-free almond milk. When I tasted it it seemed kind of…well kind of non natural. The taste was very artificial and the texture did not seem right. After I took a look at the ingredients it said 7% almonds. Say whaaaaat? What about the other 93%?

So to make a short story even shorter, I now make my own almond milk at home and I’m very happy with it. I mix some dates and vanilla with the milk other times I add some cinnamon it all depends on your personal taste…

Ingredients:

• 1 cup blanched almonds (soaked at least 8 hours or overnight)
• 2 1/2 cups water
• 3 dates or 2 tbsp stevia sweetener (optional)
• 1 tsp vanilla (optional)

The most important part here is to soak your almonds for at least 8 hours, 12 hours max. Once they have been soaked, you drain the almonds and put them in the blender. For each cup of almonds you add 2 1/2 cups water. I used to add 3 cups but the milk turned out watery and I like it foamy and thick. Then, if you like, you can add the dates and the vanilla.

Blend for at least three minutes then pour your mix into a cloth strainer and squeeze all the milk into a clean bowl. If you want you can set aside what remains inside the stainer and make some almond flour later. (I’ll leave the simple steps at the end of this post.) 

Refrigerate your milk: it lasts for about 3 to 4 days in the fridge.

Enjoy!

Almond flour: Set your oven on broil. Take out you oven’s tray and add a parchment paper. Take what’s left in the strainer and spread it on the tray. Leave in the oven for 15 min. Turn the oven off and let the flour cool inside the oven so it dries off. Once the flour is dry strain it in a sieve so you now have a fine type of almond flour. 🙂