Nut Milk
Classic Nut Milk
1 cup nuts soaked overnight
just under 2 cups water
pinch of salt
blender, preferably a VitaMix
(Magic Bullets can work but in much smaller batches)
hemp bag*
large bowls
Blend nuts and water. Pour into hemp bag or cheesecloth and squeeze out milk.
For extra flavorings, pour the milk back into blender and mix. The following are some concoctions we made, but we encourage you to play around with other flavors (strawberries, honey, cardamom, raisins, etc!)
Yields 2 cups almond milk and 1 cup of nut meal.
You can reuse the nut meal by making granola, soup, stir-frys, fruit crumbles, cheesecake crusts, energy bars, etc! Store in freezer.
Lightly Sweetened Almond
soaked almonds
water
pinch of salt
1 teaspoon maple syrup
Result: The perfect ratio of flavours!
Cinnamon Almond
soaked almonds
water
pinch of salt
2 teaspoons cinnamon
2 dates
Cashew Almond
1/2 cup soaked almonds
1/2 cup soaked cashews
water
3 dates
cinnamon
vanilla
Result: Too sweet! 1 date is enough.
What's the deal with hemp bags*?
To squeeze out the nut milk we used hemp bags from Grass Roots Greens, a company based in West Vancouver that sells sprouting kits and is into making healthy DIY food. Their large hemp bags are great for fitting around blenders to pour out nut milk and for sprouting seeds (a great alternative to big mason jars).
Hemp is a very durable cloth and will last for years, and is much better than using nylon tights. However, if you are the sewing sort and want to save money, we suggest finding hemp cloth and making your own bags (hurray DIY!).
Blueberry Cashew
1 cup soaked cashews
1 3/4 cups water
vanilla
tiny bit of agave syrup
fresh blueberries
Result: We weren't happy with the 1:2 ratio so we loaded the blender with cashews and blueberries... the result was a delicious and creamy smoothie!
Use agave very sparingly, it's sweet!
Chocolate Hazelnut
1 cup soaked hazelnuts
1 3/4 cups water
2 tbsp cocoa powder
2 tsp maple syrup
cinnamon
pinch of salt
Result: Delectable chocolate nut milk. Holy moly.
