Homemade Almond Milk

Dairy and dairy products are something that many people always look for substitutes. For such health maniacs or even strict vegetarians, nut milk is a great substitute to regular cow's milk. It is purely vegetarian, has little or none of the fats and cholesterol that dairy and its products have.

Among these, almond milk is one of the healthiest and most popular ones that people consume. However, they're constantly disappointed by the packaged one, either because it is not fresh or it has some ingredients that they do not really want to be present.

For all such people, we have the easiest possible recipe for preparing homemade almond milk in this Story. Just go through it and you'll want to make a bottle full for yourself right away.

Making almond milk at home is one of the easiest things to do. It involves very few ingredients and very little time too. The result is some delicious almond milk which has a lot of healthy properties.

It may not last as long as the packaged and processed one, but the plus point is that you can prepare as much as you want, whenever you want to and finish it off then and there. If you don't make extra milk, you won't have to worry about its storage and shelf life! Let's see how you can go about making pure almond milk right at home.

• Almonds (as per requirements)
• Water (4 times the quantity of the almonds)
• A blender (high or medium speed)
• Cheesecloth
• Glass bottle or jar to store the milk

The procedure for the preparation of homemade milk has just 5 very easy steps: Soak, Drain, Blend, Strain and Store. Let's see them in detail.

• Soak: The first step is to take the almonds that you want to extract the milk from and soak them in water (room temperature or refrigerator, your choice).

Soak the almonds in water for a minimum of 1 hour and a maximum of 8 hours. A perfect thing to do is to soak the almonds overnight. By soaking the almonds, they become easier to digest, they serve as a good brain tonic and also become softer.

The quantity of the water should be at least twice that of the almonds. Cover the vessel with a towel or cloth, not a lid.

• Drain: After the stipulated time, simply drain out all the water from the vessel and keep the almonds ready to be crushed into milk.
• Blend: Now comes the main part. Put all the almonds, together with their brown coats, into the blender and add water 4 times the amount of the almonds.

So, if you have 1 cup of almonds, add 4 cups of water. Shut the blender tightly and turn it on medium or high speed. Continue to blend it until the almonds are completely crushed into milk. If you think the mixture is turning dry, add a little more water, so that it reaches the right consistency.

• Strain: After the almonds are crushed, empty the milk into a vessel, straining it with the cheesecloth. Make sure all the milk is emptied. The residue will be the coats of the almonds. Press on this residue to extract every last bit of milk from it.

• Store: After you have extracted all the milk that you could from the almonds, store your freshly prepared almond milk in a glass jar or bottle. You can use the chaff to add into cookie batter or the like for inducing an almond flavor in it.

There you have it! Such an extremely easy recipe to prepare something as delectable and healthy as almond milk. If you'd like to add some flavor like vanilla or cinnamon or chocolate to the milk to make it more palatable, you can add a teaspoon of the essences (for every 2 cups of almonds) together with the ingredients at the time of blending.

So, go ahead and try out this recipe and share it with all your health conscious friends and family members.