22/365 – Almond Milk

Did you know that there are a lot more ingredients in your store-bought almond milk than just almonds?? Weird things, like fructose and carageenen….stuff you might not be expecting and probably don’t want to ingest if you recognize what they might be doing to you. 

What if I told you it’s super easy to make your own almond milk? Aside from soaking your nuts ahead of time (6 hours min, or over night) the whole process takes about 11 minutes with cleanup. I know because I just timed it. 

What you need:

A high speed blender

A nut bag (easy purchase on amazon)

A jar to store your milk in

1 cup of almonds (but most nuts -including coconuts, even though that’s a fruit- work in the same fashion)

4 cups filtered water (if you’re not filtering your water, your body is)

Optional: pinch of salt, pitted date or 1/2 a vanilla bean scraped

How to do it:

Soak your nuts. Like I said, overnight or for a minimum of 6 hours. Just put them in a bowl and cover with water. Use the filtered water here too. 

Drain and rinse the nuts then add them to the blender. 

Add the water (if your blender has measurements on it, it will now read 5 cups. No need to dirty the measuring cup). 
Blend. On high for about a minute. 

Line your jar with the nut bag (pro tip: use the bag inside out so you don’t get nut pulp stuck in the seams). 

Hold the bag in place as you fill the jar with the milk. 

Slowly squeeze the bag as you pull it out of the jar, leaving only liquid in the jar and pulp in the bag. (Your hands will get all over the milk, best to wash them first). 

Squeeze really hard! (Sometimes I do 2 pourings instead of just one). 

Wa-la, almond milk. Close the lid tight and refrigerate for about 5-7 days. No, it doesn’t last as long as the boxed crap….because it doesn’t have all the crap in it!

Bonus option: make almond flour with the pulp! Spread the contents of the squeezed bag out on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Bake in the oven at the lowest possible setting (170 degrees is ideal) for a couple of hours. Once dry and crumbly, put it back in the blender and blend on high for another minute (if you have a fancy “dry” blender, use it). Store in an airtight freezer jar for up to 6 months.