I haven't given up milk altogether, but I've been trying a few alternatives to substitute it with. I tried unsweetened soy milk, which tastes awful, sweetened soy milk which is okay, but I liked almond milk best. It tastes nutty - who knew! - and soft and yummy!
Since the store bought almond milk I got contained a few additives too, I wondered whether I could make my own. Turns out I can! Here's how I did it:I soaked whole almonds for about 40 hours (you should soak them between overnight up to 48 hours). Then they looked kind of nasty and I drained the water and rinsed them.
You'll need two cups of water per cup of almonds. If you have a blender, just put your almonds and water in there and blend away! I don't, so I put my almonds in a jug, added the water and used our stick blender. For a few seconds, the mixture will look slightly horrid, but it gets better, I promise!
Now you need to strain the milk. In the recipes I've found it's said you should do this with a cheese cloth. Since I don't have one of those I used a handkerchief for this! I held the four tips and three of the sides in my left hand, so one side was still open. Pour some of the mixture trough and squeeze the cloth with your free hand. Empty your cloth and repeat until all the milk is stained!
You'll have two products now: almond milk and almond meal.
To finish the almond milk, you can sweeten it. I added 30gr of vanilla sugar to the 1l of almond milk. Not so healthy either I suppose... You could also use honey or stevia as a sweetener.
Then pour the milk into a bottle and keep it in the fridge! It will keep for a few days. I also noticed that it separates, so be sure to shake well before use!
What to do with the almond meal? I ate some of mine: some of it as it is and some of it I mixed with the custard I was eating. I dried the rest of it in a frying pan so I can use it as a topping on my oatmeal.
Sincerely,
R.
