Almond Milk

I got on the vegan wagon few months back and in the process tried different milks. Almond milk has been my favourite. It is easy to make at home and is very yummy in smoothies. I have given up milk fully and moved to almond milk completely. I do use the store bought almond milk from time to time but prefer the homemade one. Advantages of making it at home are

> Almond content is more compared to the carton

> I can add natural sweeteners like dates or maple syrup instead of sugar.

> No preservatives

> Can control how much you want to make

I hope you have fun making this one.

INGREDIENTS

1. Almonds - half cup
2. Dates - 2 ( you could use agave syrup or any natural sweetener of your choice)
3. Water - 600 ml (filtered water preferred)
4. Maple / Agave syrup - 1 tsp (optional - for additional sweetness)
5. Almond extract / vanilla essence - few drops (optional - for stronger or additional flavour)

REQUIREMENT - Nut milk bag to squeeze the pulp out - can buy from health food stores or online from ebay etc

METHOD

1. Soak almonds for at least 8 hours. Over night soaking preferred. Wash and throw away the soaked water.
2. In a blender jar put in the soaked almonds, de-seeded dates & water and blend for 30 to 40 seconds on high.
3. Pass this through the nut milk bag into a bowl and squeeze out the excess water from the pulp collected in the bag.
4. Add the maple syrup & the extract if needed.
5. Store in a clean bottle in the fridge
6. Stays good for 3 - 4 days. Has never lasted that long for me... Generally gets over within 2 days at my place.

NOTES

1. Save the pulp in a ziplock bag or a air tight container in your freezer. You can add the pulp to cakes and cookies as a replacement to flour. Make almond flour.. I'll be listing a few uses in my blog soon.
2. This milk cannot stand high heat.
3. You can dilute it further or reduce the amount of water you put in. This is the consistency that works for me.