Homemade Almond Milk

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by Mardi

homemade almond milk

Yes­ter­day was national cheese lovers day and you can be cer­tain that when I got home from work, I dove right into a big block of extra sharp ched­dar (as I do just about every­day). It’s my guilty plea­sure that I don’t ever plan on giv­ing up. This being said, I have dis­cov­ered over the years that dairy is maybe not my best friend. I don’t have quite the reac­tion that the lac­tose intol­er­ant do, but it doesn’t make my stom­ach or my aller­gies the hap­pi­est of campers either. This is why about a year ago, I decided to switch to almond milk.

I used to drink soy milk on occa­sion, but as I’ve men­tioned before, with so much debate on pos­si­ble neg­a­tive impacts, I try to avoid soy in gen­eral. If I do con­sume soy, or any­thing for that mat­ter, I like to know where it has been grown. I’ve tried many brands of almond milk and some are bet­ter than oth­ers, but I decided it was about time to try mak­ing my own, and with a fresh batch of almonds and some cheese cloth in hand, I did just that. While the process can be a bit messy (squeez­ing all of the liq­uid from the cheese cloth), it’s also a very sim­ple process and a lot of fun to make. Mine turned out a bit more watery than the almond milk I’m used to, but still refresh­ing and deli­cious — think coconut water meets almond milk in terms of con­sis­tency. I added a lit­tle vanilla extract to mine, but next time I plan to use fresh vanilla beans and maybe even a few other fancy fla­vors. I will never give up cheese (you can quote me on that), but drink­ing almond milk rather than cow or soy milk is a tran­si­tion that I am very happy with. It’s nice to know that every­day, I am feed­ing my body some­thing that is both deli­cious and filled with nutri­tional ben­e­fits.  Home­made almond milk should last just a few days in the refrig­er­a­tor so drink up! Here’s how I made this…

2 cups raw almonds
4 cups water
1 tsp vanilla extract (or use vanilla beans)

Soak the almonds in water overnight (I kept mine in the refrig­er­a­tor). In the morn­ing, dis­card the water and com­bine the almonds, 4 cups of water and vanilla in a blender and blend for about a minute or two on high speed. Strain the milk through some cheese­cloth and into a con­tainer, dis­card­ing any solid pieces.

24 comments   |  tags: , , | posted in Recipes

  • http://perandom.blogspot.com/ Julie

    hi! i just found your site, and am very excited about this almond milk.. i’m def­i­nitely going to try it myself! one ques­tion: the almonds, it doesn’t mat­ter if the almonds have the skin? it’s pretty hard to find/​a lot more expen­sive to find them “naked” where i am. i had seen in recipes other places where they called for skin­less. what’s your take?

  • http://perandom.blogspot.com/ Julie

    hi! i just found your site, and am very excited about this almond milk.. i’m def­i­nitely going to try it myself! one ques­tion: the almonds, it doesn’t mat­ter if the almonds have the skin? it’s pretty hard to find/​a lot more expen­sive to find them “naked” where i am. i had seen in recipes other places where they called for skin­less. what’s your take?

  • Bar­bara

    I’d love to try this, but I need a bot­tle like yours! Please tell me where I can get some?

  • Bar­bara

    I’d love to try this, but I need a bot­tle like yours! Please tell me where I can get some?

  • http://www.sproutandpea.com Mardi

    Nope! Reg­u­lar old almonds with the skin on are just fine!
    You’ll dis­card all of the solid pieces when you strain it through the cheese cloth. Hope you enjoy it!

  • http://www.sproutandpea.com Mardi

    Hi Bar­bara!
    I got mine at my favorite store — Fishs Eddy.
    http://www.fishseddy.com/browse.cfm/4,2077.html
    A great one stop shop for unique kitchen items :)

  • http://www.sproutandpea.com Mardi

    Hi Bar­bara!
    I got mine at my favorite store — Fishs Eddy.
    http://www.fishseddy.com/browse.cfm/4,2077.html
    A great one stop shop for unique kitchen items :)

  • Bar­bara

    Mardi, thank you! I’m get­ting rid of plas­tic con­tain­ers and going back to safe, pure, clean glass, (dish-washable/sterilizable)and I love to can and give gifts in jars and bot­tles. These are per­fect for sev­eral things I make to share! I love to make pretty paper labels or tags to hang on the neck of nice bot­tles. These are great!

  • Bar­bara

    Mardi, thank you! I’m get­ting rid of plas­tic con­tain­ers and going back to safe, pure, clean glass, (dish-washable/sterilizable)and I love to can and give gifts in jars and bot­tles. These are per­fect for sev­eral things I make to share! I love to make pretty paper labels or tags to hang on the neck of nice bot­tles. These are great!

  • http://ourlifeinfood.wordpress.com Car­rie

    Inter­est­ing! It sounds so won­der­ful and easy to do. I’m putting it on my to-​​try list!

  • http://ourlifeinfood.wordpress.com Car­rie

    Inter­est­ing! It sounds so won­der­ful and easy to do. I’m putting it on my to-​​try list!

  • http://cookingwithrosie.blogspot.com Rosa

    Hi Mardi,

    I’ve been look­ing through your recipes and there are so many I want to try! :-) I love this recipe but I have a question(s):

    Why is the water that the almonds soaked overnight in dis­carded? Can I just use the same water when I pour every­thing into the blender?

    Almond milk would be great for heart­burn. I’m expect­ing my third child and as he gets big­ger, then I will expe­ri­ence heart­burn in the last few months of preg­nancy. Almond milk will come in handy. :-) Thanks so much for shar­ing this recipe!

    I’m look­ing for­ward to mak­ing it!!!

    Rosa

  • http://cookingwithrosie.blogspot.com Rosa

    Hi Mardi,

    I’ve been look­ing through your recipes and there are so many I want to try! :-) I love this recipe but I have a question(s):

    Why is the water that the almonds soaked overnight in dis­carded? Can I just use the same water when I pour every­thing into the blender?

    Almond milk would be great for heart­burn. I’m expect­ing my third child and as he gets big­ger, then I will expe­ri­ence heart­burn in the last few months of preg­nancy. Almond milk will come in handy. :-) Thanks so much for shar­ing this recipe!

    I’m look­ing for­ward to mak­ing it!!!

    Rosa

  • http://www.sproutandpea.com Mardi

    Hi Rosa,

    I’m so glad you like the recipes!

    Regard­ing the almond milk — almonds can be hard to digest because of an enzyme-​​inhibiting sub­stance in the brown coat­ing (good for the almonds because it pre­vents them from sprout­ing too early). Soak­ing removes this, mak­ing it eas­ier to digest. So, best to dis­card the soak­ing water and rinse the almonds with fresh water too to make sure all of this sub­stance is removed.

    I found some good infor­ma­tion on it here:
    http://www.buzzle.com/articles/benefits-of-soaking-almonds-in-water.html

  • http://cookingwithrosie.blogspot.com Rosa

    Wow, Mardi! Thanks for the info! :-)

  • http://cookingwithrosie.blogspot.com Rosa

    Wow, Mardi! Thanks for the info! :-)

  • http://amycoverdale.tumblr.com Amy

    How long would a batch of almond milk last? I’m guess­ing you want to drink it within a cou­ple days? I’ve yet to con­vert my hus­band to any­thing but his 2% milk, and am think­ing I wouldn’t be able to drink a whole batch before it spoiled. Guess­ing though, that I COULD just halve the batch :)

  • http://amycoverdale.tumblr.com Amy

    How long would a batch of almond milk last? I’m guess­ing you want to drink it within a cou­ple days? I’ve yet to con­vert my hus­band to any­thing but his 2% milk, and am think­ing I wouldn’t be able to drink a whole batch before it spoiled. Guess­ing though, that I COULD just halve the batch :)

  • http://www.sproutandpea.com Mardi

    Hi Amy,

    It will def­i­nitely only last a few days when home­made. That being said, I think it’s fun to make your own and would rec­om­mend try­ing it! There are a vari­ety of almond milks you can get at the store — I’m guess­ing your hus­band would tran­si­tion best with Silk’s orig­i­nal almond milk because it’s a bit thicker than most — more sim­i­lar to 2% milk in tex­ture. Let me know how it goes if you make some :)

  • http://www.sproutandpea.com Mardi

    Hi Amy,

    It will def­i­nitely only last a few days when home­made. That being said, I think it’s fun to make your own and would rec­om­mend try­ing it! There are a vari­ety of almond milks you can get at the store — I’m guess­ing your hus­band would tran­si­tion best with Silk’s orig­i­nal almond milk because it’s a bit thicker than most — more sim­i­lar to 2% milk in tex­ture. Let me know how it goes if you make some :)

  • http://amycoverdale.tumblr.com Amy

    Hi Mardi! Well, I made the almond milk yes­ter­day! SOOOOO easy! Who would’ve thought? :) I feel like mine came out extra thin though and am won­der­ing if that is what’s to expect mak­ing it at home, as opposed to the boxed kind, which I’m sure has some sort of preser­v­a­tives that in turn affect the tex­ture. My other ques­tion, can you do any­thing with the almond pieces after you strain out the milk?? Seems like such a waste to throw all that almondy-​​goodness out! Any ideas?

  • http://amycoverdale.tumblr.com Amy

    Hi Mardi! Well, I made the almond milk yes­ter­day! SOOOOO easy! Who would’ve thought? :) I feel like mine came out extra thin though and am won­der­ing if that is what’s to expect mak­ing it at home, as opposed to the boxed kind, which I’m sure has some sort of preser­v­a­tives that in turn affect the tex­ture. My other ques­tion, can you do any­thing with the almond pieces after you strain out the milk?? Seems like such a waste to throw all that almondy-​​goodness out! Any ideas?

  • http://www.sproutandpea.com Mardi

    Hi Amy!
    Mine did come out thin as well. I think the next time I try it I might try less water. I actu­ally just came across this great idea for the left over almond pieces on this blog: http://www.myrealfoodlife.com/home-made-almond-milk/. You can bake them with a lit­tle oil and use them as crumbs for bread­ing things /​ pie crusts. Hope this helps and thanks for let­ting me know how it turned out!

  • http://www.sproutandpea.com Mardi

    Hi Amy!
    Mine did come out thin as well. I think the next time I try it I might try less water. I actu­ally just came across this great idea for the left over almond pieces on this blog: http://www.myrealfoodlife.com/home-made-almond-milk/. You can bake them with a lit­tle oil and use them as crumbs for bread­ing things /​ pie crusts. Hope this helps and thanks for let­ting me know how it turned out!