I use Coffeemate in my coffee but it tastes really bad in tea, so I when I don't have soya I use cows milk for tea but can't stand it in my coffee? Go figure...
Other than in tea the only other time I use cows milk is in cooking (I find soya is not good for cooking) so a carton of cows milk lasts a looooooooong time in my house and more often than not ends up going lumpy and off.
Recently I purchased an extremely expensive carton of Almond Milk. It was nice - but I found it watery and very almondy flavored it also had a sweet after taste that I didn't fancy too much - oh and did I mention OMG expensive!
So yesterday when I went to check out a new Indian grocery store that a friend had recommended, I was delighted to find 500g bags of Almonds at a reasonable price. A while ago a pin on Pinterest had caught my eye about DIY almond milk so I decided to give it a go.
I soaked one cup of almonds in boiled (and cooled) water - with enough water to cover double the quantity of nuts overnight.
In the morning they had swelled to almost twice the volume and the water had turned a murky brown. I rinsed the almonds with fresh water.
And then dug out my trusty blender from the back of the cupboard.
In went the almonds with two cups of filtered water and whizzzzzz! I blended it for around a minute shells and all. It turned a thick creamy off white colour.
I needed something to strain it in and remembered the pinterest had said use cheese cloth to squeeze the excess water out. The closest thing I have to cheese cloth was an old pareo/sarong that I used to wear at the beach so I cut a square from it, dipped it in boiling water for hygene's sake 😋 and lined a sieve with it.
Next I poured in the whizzed almonds and let it drain drip by drip for a while - but it was taking too long and I have no patience, so I gathered up the corners careful to keep the mixture contained inside and twisted the top firmly but not too hard as I was cautious not to split the fabric with too much force.
With gentle kneading twists the milky white liquid easily squeezed out of the mush. And I ended up with just under two cups of creamy dreaminess. It was delicious! So creamy - not sweet like the commercial store bought one and thick like full cream milk. The almond taste was so subtle and I was surprised there was no gritty floury feeling in the back of my throat as I find with soya milk.
I am sold!
But wait there's more......
I emptied the "cheesecloth" mushy nut mixture onto some baking paper, chopping up the lumps with a knife and put it in the oven on a low heat for 30mins to dry it out. After 15 mins I took it out to check it, chopped up the lumps a bit more and put it back for another 15mins.
After 30mins total I took it out and let it cool completely then stored it in an air tight jar to use later. I can use it in a cake or a fruit crumble topping, I might even attempt some sort of pastry with it.
I made a cup of tea using the almond milk and you know what? It wasn't bad. Im liking being able to make small quantities as and when I need it and the best thing is the nuts will last for ages. I keep the excess nuts in the freezer (because of the humidity and tropical climate) so will have an on-hand supply whenever I need them. I have yet to use the almond milk in cooking so when I try out a sauce or something I will let you know how it goes. But for now I'm gonna have to go soak some more nuts tonight because the almond milk was nice, I've drunk the lot already!!!
