One post on my blog that gets regular traffic is my no-cook rice milk recipe. I need to update it a bit actually… But in the meantime, I thought I should add a nut milk to my recipe index.
I hadn’t made almond milk for, well, a few years. It’s easy to make, it tastes better than store bought, I can buy the ingredients (simply almonds) in bulk versus ready-to-drink milk in a wasteful Tetra-Pak, it goes well with homemade granola…
But the leftover pulp always stressed me out. When I make almond milk, I also commit to cooking or baking something with all that pulp because how can I possibly waste it, especially during those devastating drought years here in California? I started to dry it out and run it through my food processor to make “flour.” I really like this solution. I either use the flour immediately or store it in the freezer in a glass jar to use later. Now this isn’t the same as almond flour you buy in the store—much of the fatty goodness has been drawn out of it. But the stuff is useful.
To make almond milk, you soak a cup of almonds in water for up to a couple of days. Drain the almonds. Rinse them. Puree them with 2 cups fresh water. Strain the liquid. Drink the milk. That’s it.
UPDATE 06/04/18: Return the pulp to the blender, add another cup to cup and a half of water and repeat the process. This second batch will be more watery than the first batch but still tasty. My daughter prefers the second batch to the richer first batch.
I buy organic almonds. Many almond milk recipes call for “raw organic” almonds but raw almonds basically do not exist, at least not here California, producer of 80 percent of the world’s almonds.
Almond “flour”
I took some lovely pictures of the pulp straining process (not easy with one hand) but sadly, the photos disappeared…
After you remove as much liquid from the pulp as possible, break up the pulp with your hand and drop it onto an ungreased, unlined cookie sheet. Break it up further with a fork. Dehydrate the pulp in the oven at about 225ºF for two hours, or until completely dried out. During dehydration, stir the pulp every 30 minutes or so to break up lumps and prevent it from sticking to the cookie sheet. Run the dried pulp through a food processor. Use immediately or store in the refrigerator or freezer.
When you bake with your pulp flour you’ll have to fiddle around with the recipe a bit—as with all freestyle cooking. For this blog post, I made oatmeal cookies. The recipe calls for 3 cups oats and 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour. I substituted 1 cup of my pulp flour for 1 cup of the all-purpose flour. The cookies turn out a tiny bit more crumbly than they do following the standard recipe. But other than that, they taste delicious. I’m all for rescuing food that would otherwise go to waste but my efforts must taste delicious.
Ingredients
- 1 cup almonds
- water for soaking
- 2 cups water for pureeing soaked almonds
Instructions
- Place almonds in a jar and cover with water by a couple of inches. Place the lid on the jar and set the jar aside for between 12 and 48 hours.
- Strain the almonds and rinse them very well.
- Add the almonds and 2 cups fresh water to a blender or food processor and blend for a couple of minutes.
- Over a large bowl, place a sieve or colander lined with a fine-mesh cloth. Pour the almond mixture through. Let it sit for about 10 minutes to strain out most of the liquid.
- Gather up the edges of the cloth to form a ball and squeeze out as much almond milk as possible.
- To make a second batch of almond milk, return the almond pulp to the blender, add more water (about 1 to 1/2 cups) and repeat the process. (This batch won't be as rich as the first batch.)
- If you wish to sweeten your almond milk, stir in sugar, maple syrup or honey, etc. To sweeten with a pitted date, return the milk to a clean blender, add the date and puree once again.
- Store almond milk in a glass jar in the refrigerator for up to a few days.
Notes
Nuts contain phytic acid, and anti-nutrient that bonds to minerals. That bond prevents your body from absorbing said minerals. So, don't consume the water you soak your nuts in. Your plants can drink it however.
