We have recently started to make our own Almond Milk!
Before starting the “how to make” portion of this post, I’d just like to summarize a couple of benefits from making your almond milk:
1. I checked out the ingredients to Blue Diamond Regular Almond Milk and here is what I found:
Purified Water
Evaporated Cane Juice
Almonds
Tricalcium Phosphate
Sea Salt
Potassium Citrate
Carrageenan
Soy Lecithin
D-Alpha-Tocopherol (i.e. Vitamin E)
Vitamin A Palmitate
Vitamin D2
Okay… so I see that most of the added ingredients are vitamins and minerals. That’s understandable considering these companies have to compete with the dairy industry. But they aren’t the most natural way to get these substances into one’s body either…
Second, why on earth is sugar BEFORE almonds in the ingredient list? Shouldn’t water and almonds be 1 and 2? Does America have that much of a sweet tooth? Seriously. That is sad.
Third, for those of you who think almond milk is soy free, think again! Soy lecithin is an emulsifier that is extracted from soy beans, so although I don’t know the percentage of it (I’m sure it’s very small), it still appears as though soy has creeped into industrial almond milk.
And third, just for an FYI ( I had to look it up myself) carrageenan is a gelatin made from a red seaweed. It increases the viscosity of fluids and, it is also used as a natural lubricant and microbicide. Nice! Doesn’t seem too terrible, but an added, and in my opinion, unnecessary ingredient all the same.
Now what does homemade almond milk contain?
A much smaller list of ingredients:
Purified Water ( I used my Brita)
Almonds
Organic Agave Nectar (a T. per 64 oz.)
That’s it, my friends.
So there is one benefit of making your own Almond Milk. Controlling and knowing what is going in to your body! A much more natural beverage for sure!
2. Making almond milk is a money saver!
One 64 oz. container of almond milk is about 10 dollars.
One 64 oz. homemade almond milk is about 4 dollars.
You do the math.
3. There is nothing as rewarding as making your own food! Right?
On to the picture show:
1. Measure out 4 cups of unsalted almonds:
2. Boil until the skin wrinkles:
3. Peel the skins off:
4. Soak in water for 1-2 days (and, keep in the fridge, obv):
5. After soaking for 1-2 days, rinse and add 1 cup of almonds and 2-2.5 cups filtered water to blender:
6. Blend for about 30 seconds:
7. Filter out the milk with a cheese cloth or a nut bag, and repeat with rest of almonds:
8. I added 1 T. of organic agave nectar but you can also add all sorts of things to flavor it up: honey, stevia, and a variety of extracts (almond, vanilla) to name a few…
And there you have it!
One batch lasted us about one week, which is probably the same amount of time it keeps in the fridge.
Have a fabulous Monday everybody!
xo!
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