When I went entirely dairy free as part of an elimination diet, one of my least favorite things was how hard it was to find a decent coconut and/or nut milk. Most of the boxed or canned options out there are full of additives, chemicals (even in the can or box itself!), and thickeners. (For more information on guar gums, xantham gum, and carrageenan, ThePaleoMom has a really good article.)
I first made full-fat coconut milk a while back and it’s been a staple ever since. But after a couple years, it was time to switch things up…and the big bag of raw almonds was staring at me from the counter. Turns out, almond milk is even easier to make than coconut milk. Bam!
If you want more of a discussion on dairy and dairy substitutes, listen to the Wellness Beets Episode 6!
Think this is Pinteresting? Make sure to follow my Paleo/Primal Foods to Make board…and share this recipe with your crew by using the social media buttons below this post!
Ingredients:
- 1 cup RAW almonds (they must be raw!)
- 2.5 cup water, boiled
Other Things You’ll Need:
- Large mason jar
- cheesecloth
- rubberband
Steps:
- Place the almonds in a blender.
- Add in your hot water.
- Carefully start to blend on low. I strongly recommend not blasting your blender on high when you’re working with really hot water.
- You’ll want to blend it in 30 second bursts for about 4-5 minutes.
- Place your cheesecloth over the opening of your mason jar. Keep it loose so that it creates a little pouch for your left over almond bits to get trapped. When you’re happy with it, secure the cheesecloth with a rubberband.
- Pour your freshly made almond milk into the cheesecloth so that the almond bits get stuck and the liquid seeps through. You might need to squeeze out the liquid at the end to get out all that almond milky goodness.
- Optional: if you want your almond milk to be less concentrated, you can dilute it with some water.
- Once you got all your almond milk ready, put the lid on your mason jar and store in the fridge! I’ve found that it keeps for about 7 days…but it’s normally gone in much less!
Kick Up The Flavor
I like adding in things like:
- honey
- maple syrup
- vanilla extract
- cinnamon/nutmeg/pumpkin pie spice
