Nut Milk & Sprout Bag, Mesh

The Art of Nut Milking

So at first glance this may seem a little strange to some people. How do you get milk out of nuts? What kind of nuts can I make milk with? What’s wrong with just buying almond milk from my local grocery store? Why should I make my own and how do I do it? What’s a nut milk bag?

First of all, nut milks are not made by squeezing or pressing a nut. If you do that, using a proper press machine, you will get oil and not nut milk. Nut milks are made by blending the nuts with water after they have been cleaned and soaked for about 8 hours then straining the liquid from the almond meal.

So, If you think that the only nut milk that you can make is almond milk, you are definitely not thinking out of the box. There’s Brazil nut milk, cashew, milk, pecan milk, hazelnut milk, macadamia milk, sesame seed milk, walnut milk and more. Our favourites are the almond, cashew, and Brazil nut milks.

So with all these nut milks why not just buy them already made at the store. Well, have you ever picked up a carton of almond milk to look at the ingredients? You will find that they are loaded with added sugar and also contain preservatives. Plus you will be lucky if you even find organic nut milk at your grocery store. Most of the time it’s just conventional. Plus you will be hard pressed to find any of the above mentioned nut milks except for almond milk and perhaps the latest release which is cashew milk. Again both filled with unwanted, unhealthy ingredients and including preservatives.

When you make your own almond milk, or anything from scratch, you control exactly what goes in it and it tastes way better and so much fresher than the store bought Tetra packs. Plus you can tweak it to make it taste how you like it. You can sweeten it using your sweetener of choice - instead of high glycemic sweeteners found in the ones at stores. You can even sweeten it using dates or any other fruit or berry.

So how exactly do you make a nut milk? Well let’s start with the basics and we can tweak it a bit after. First let’s start with the equipment:

1. High powered blender - the higher the power the smoother the milk

2. Nut Milk Bag – special bag made of fine mesh used to strain the milk

3. Measuring cup

4. Large Bowl

Next you will need the basic ingredients:

1. 1 cup of your choice of nuts soaked for 8 hours to soften them. We’ll be using almonds to make it simpler.

2. 2-3 cups of water. We like it a bit smoother and not as thick so we use 4 cups of water.

Extras to be added for more flavour if you desire:

1. Fresh Whole Vanilla Bean

2. 2 Dates with the pits removed or Sweetener of your choice to taste

3. Pinch of Sea Salt

Instructions:

Rinse the soaked almonds thoroughly and add to the blender container. Add water and any of the other extra ingredients and blend at high speed for a few minutes until it is smooth. Open the nut milk bag and poor the liquid into the bag while holding it over the bowl so the bowl catches the strained milk.

When most of the liquid is through the bag then you want to close the top of the nut milk bag using the draw string and gently squeeze the remainder of the milk through the bag. CAUTION: DO NOT TWIST THE BAG OR WRING THE BAG OR THE BAG WILL TEAR AND YOU WILL HAVE A BIG MESS. Be gentle and take your time gently squeezing and milking the bag until only the thick almond meal remains behind. Once you are done you can save the almond meal to make other goodies. We dehydrate ours and save it after every batch of milk until we have enough to make a nice big batch of cookies.

So voila, you have fresh almond milk that will keep for 2-4 days in the fridge. Now time for the fun stuff.

What can you make with almond milk that tastes awesome? How about add some chocolate or carob. Or blend it with blueberries or strawberries. Use it as a base for your protein shake or smoothie, add it to coffee, tea or better yet use it with Dandy Blend (coffee alternative) or for your favourite latte or chai.

We also like Brazil nut milk with a bit of vanilla and nutmeg or just add some mesquite. For a sweetener we use lucuma. Brazil nut milk has a creamier texture and also goes well with cacao powder. For an added punch, you can also use some Brazil nut or almond milk with 1 tablespoon of lavender flowers. Just make sure to drink this one up within a few hours since the lavender will be more and more potent as the drink sits.

So how long does all this take. Well if your nuts are soaking then it will take 5-10 minutes to blend and strain.

So tell us what your favourite concoction is with these amazing nut milks. We would love to hear from you.