More and more people are turning away from milks of animal origin, with their high levels of lactose and casein, containing fats and antibiotic residues, either because of allergies or just from feeling queasy after consuming it. However another question immediately presents itself – what to replace them with? The answer is not far to seek when you remember there are various vegetable- based milks that are an excellent replacement for cow’s milk, which, as everybody knows, is made for calves. You can find soy milk, hazelnut, spelt, rice and almond in the supermarket or at organic food stores. The best, though, is the one you make yourself at home.

That’s what I do. I’ve been making my own almond milk for some time now. It’s easy to do, it’s delicious, and I can’t resist the pleasure of sharing my recipe with you.
For a litre (2 pints) of almond milk, you need:

Almonds – about 200-250g (7-9 ounces)
Water (about 5 times the quantity of almonds)
A blender
A thin cloth to filter the milk

Preparation

Let the almonds soak in water for 12 hours.
Drain the almonds and put them in the blender.
Add the measured quantity of water.
Blend on high speed until the almonds are liquidised.
Filter with a fine sieve or a thin cloth. If you do this with a cloth, squeeze it to get all the milk out.

Add sugar to taste. I like to add cocoa powder or agave syrup. The almond milk is ready, and will keep in the fridge for three days.
And definitely keep the shredded almond you’ve filtered out. You can use it next time you do a recipe based on almond paste.

Nu