Homemade Almond Milk

Before you all run in the other direction I seriously have to say I like the taste of almond milk, well with a few additions; maple sugar or agave, vanilla extract, and a touch of salt.  Oh it's good!  Jevan is even drinking it!

Instead of buying it already made you can easily make your own, I'm talking real easy.

 

Soak about 2 cups of almonds in filtered water for at least 6 hours or overnight.

Edit: I changed the recipe a bit and you'll get another four cups of milk if you do it.  The almonds swell when soaking so for every cup you get about a cup and a half so 2 cups of dry almonds soaked overnight will become 3 cups.

Put 1 cup of soaked almonds into a blender with 4 cups water.  If using a Blendtec hit "whole juice" and let it blend.  I have only tried this using a Blendtec and I'm not sure what setting to use on a regular blender but I'd say the highest would probably be good.
Have a juice jug handy and pour your first batch in, straining is optional but I like to.  You can save the almond paste for other uses, give it to chickens, compost it, or turn it into flour; check out my blog post on how to do that here: http://kansasa.blogspot.ca/2013/04/almond-flour_11.html

Repeat above steps with the rest of your almonds, you should get about 12 cups of milk.

You can stop now or flavour up your almond milk.  Put 3-4 cups of milk back into the blender and add:
3 tablespoons maple sugar (this is what I use) but you can also add agave or honey or 3-6 medjool dates or xylitol or any other sweetener but you might have to adjust to taste.
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
Add back to the batch and stir.
It will last about 5-7 days in the fridge and it's great in smoothies!

How healthy is almond milk?  It's high in antioxidants, heart healthy, high in vitamins and minerals, low in fat and calories, and I could go on and on but just go to this link and see: http://www.fitday.com/fitness-articles/nutrition/healthy-eating/pros-and-cons-of-almond-milk.html

Buying certain store bought brands is not healthy because some contain a carcinogenic ingredient, a substance derived from red algae called carrageenan.  You can read up on that here: http://foodbabe.com/2012/05/22/watch-out-for-this-carcinogen-in-your-organic-food/