I have recently been searching in Spain for alternatives to milk so I can reduce or eliminate the amount of dairy in my diet. There are two problems with this, firstly I hate soya, even unsweetened soya milk. Secondly, the Spanish have a sweet tooth and finding unsweetened oat milk or almond milk is very difficult. I did eventually track down unsweetened versions of both. The oat milk is naturally a bit sweet and although it makes fantastic tasting porridge I find it disgusting on other cereals. It is also very expensive here.
Back to the almond milk, well, it wasn’t bad and cheaper but when I read the ingredients it had sunflower oil in it, probably to make it less likely to separate, but to me it tasted a bit gloopy and although it made my coffee taste similar to a Starbucks coffee with hazelnut syrup (yummy) there were greasy bits floating on the surface.
So, with so many almond trees of our own and 20 kilos of almonds picked and shelled by Ken I decided the cheapest, most tasty and healthy option would be to make my own. It was very nice and tasted lovely on my cereal and in coffee. So we now have free home-made almond milk in the fridge which is really easy to make. The problem is I now need Ken to pick more next year. This year he picked 60 kilos which = 20 kilos when shelled so next years target is 120 kilos!! Here is the recipe if you fancy trying it.
To make 1 litre of almond milk:
8 oz (½ lb) raw unprocessed natural almonds (the fresher the better)
Fresh cold water (enough to cover the almonds)
1. Cover the almonds in enough water to cover with a little extra water to provide room for swelling and soak overnight.
2. Blend in a powerful blender to give a thick, frothy almond puree.
3. Place a fine sieve over a jug, pour the almond mixture into it and start squeezing with the back of a dessert spoon until the almond meal is as dry as you can get it. Don’t add any more water at this point and retain the almond meal (more on this later).
4. The more you squeeze out, the more creamy and nutritious the milk will be.
5. Repeat this process through a clean sieve this time into a pitcher with a lid for storing in the fridge. At the end, press the last bit of almond paste in the sieve to extract the last and creamiest bit of milk.
6. Top up the milk with water to make approximately 1 litre (or desired amount if making a greater quantity). Better to leave it a bit thick than too thin as you can always add water but you can’t take it out again.
7. Place the milk covered in the refrigerator for 24 hours. You will notice a creamy layer floats on top, but with a few stirs and a day or so in the refrigerator, it will blend nicely and taste lovely and creamy.
8. Some people add sweetener or a pinch of salt or vanilla but I prefer to leave it as it is.
9. Your almond milk should cling to the glass like fresh dairy milk but without the added commercial additives like sunflower oil or gum.
It should keep refrigerated for around a week. Enjoy low carb delicious creamy milk, hot or cold on cereal, in coffee and or whatever you fancy! The almond meal is nice mixed into porridge or you can bake it on a baking tray in the oven to dry it and use in cakes and crumble.
