If you've never tried nut mylk, you're in for a treat! It tastes so much better than cow's milk and is easy to make. Today I've outlined, 5 easy steps to making the most nutritious and delicious almond mylk.
1) Soak 1 cup of raw organic almonds in 2 cups of filtered water with a few spritzes of food-grade 3% H2O2 to kill off any bacteria. Soak for 2 days, changing the water twice per day - once in the morning and once in the evening. (Double the quantity if you want to make a larger batch.)
2) Most almond mylk recipes call for soaking only between 4 hours or overnight in the fridge. I recommend 48 hours because it allows the almonds to begin sprouting which changes the nutritional composition.
Have you ever eaten shelled sunflower seeds? Then you know that they are slightly oily and contain fat. How about that same sunflower seed 10 days later after it's sprouted into a sunflower green? Now it's green crunchy, fresh and plump with water. Where did the fat go? The process of sprouting changed the nutritional composition of the seed.
When you sprout almonds, you will see a tiny bud starting to form at the tip of the almond and a crack down the center where the almond is about to split so the sprout can emerge. This will only happen if the almonds are truly raw, fresh and viable.
3) Although not necessary, I usually remove the skins from the almonds before making mylk because it makes the mylk smoother and less gritty. The skins are easier to peel after they've been soaking for a couple of days but to make it even easier, you can blanch the almonds quickly by putting them in boiling water and then into an ice water bath. I usually prefer not to cook them at all and just peel them by hand, but blanching is a quicker option.
4) Place the cup of almonds in a high-speed blender like the HP3 Blentec with two cups of water, a pinch of Celtic Sea Salt and an optional sweetener like vanilla bean seeds, honey, agave nectar, stevia or yacon syrup. I prefer just vanilla bean seeds scraped from an inch long piece of a vanilla pod. If you are making a flavored mylk like chocolate milk or chai, now is a good time to add the raw cacao or spices. Blend at high speed. Taste test your mylk and adjust to desired flavor.
5) Pour the almond mylk through a nut mylk bag and squeeze to separate the almond pulp from the mylk. The almond pulp can be used to make other treats like raw almond cookies, but the pulp will only keep fresh for 1-2 days refrigerated unless you dehydrate it into almond flour.
Yay! You're done and now you can enjoy your almond mylk straight or use it to make a creamy smoothie, soup, dessert, etc. Sky's the limit!
