Nuts and Seeds and Milk, Oh My
If you’ve never had almond milk in your coffee…if you’ve never tried cashew milk on your cereal…if you’ve never made a sesame milkshake…you’re in for a real treat. This is a basic recipe for nut milk that you can play around with as you like. To make it thicker or thinner, adjust the nut to water ratio as appropriate. These are thick and creamy due to their rich mineral and oil content, yet they have no cholesterol, little or no pesticide residue, a calcium content that exceeds that of dairy milks and there is no need to pasteurize them. Please remember, however, when adding nut milks to sauces and soups to not boil them intensely, or the milk will likely separate.
1/2 cup raw nuts or seeds
2 cups pure water
1 tbsp pure maple syrup or other liquid sweetener (optional)
1/4 tsp vanilla extract (optional)
Grind the nuts or seeds in your coffee or seed grinder until they are a fine powder. Place in your food processor or blender along with 1 cup of the water, the sweetener and vanilla extract, if desired. Whiz for a minimum of 5 minutes. With the blender still on high, slowly pour in the remaining water and whiz for yet another 5 minutes minimum.
Line a colander with 2 layers of cheesecloth and place this over a large bowl. When the nut milk is finished blending, pour it slowly into the colander and allow it to strain naturally. You can stir it a little to try and speed the process, but in order to keep all particulate out of the finished milk, it’s best to let it do it on it’s own.
You can strain the milk a second time, if you want to be sure it’s free of all particulate.
Store the finished milk in an airtight container in your fridge for 4 or 5 days.
The nut fibre remaining in the cheesecloth is great as an addition to baking, or you can take it into the shower with you for an all-natural body-scrub.
Heavy Cream Option
Reduce the amount of water in the recipe by up to half and proceed as directed above.