Question about Making Almond Milk

[MaineMomof4]

Does anyone know of any easier way to make almond milk? I've been blending the almonds that I have soaked with 3 cups water and then pouring it into a strainer and pushing out the milk until the pulp is dry but it is quite time consuming. I thought about getting a milk bag or sprout bag but someone told me that hose were a pain in the butt and no easier than what I'm doing. Anyone have a way to make it less time consuming? Also does anyone know if it matters with almonds if you get raw organic or just raw that is natural? Just wondering since the price is high on both but even higher on organic and we're spending like $9 on all natural raw almonds for about a pound and something almonds which makes like 3 glass jars of milk about 12 cups in each glass bottle. Just time consuming and getting expensive with everything else, any ideas?? THANKS EVERYONE! :)

[Raw Jewelrylady]

Yes--If you can get Raw almond or cashew butter..just blend a few TBSP of that with every cup of water. I do it all the time. :D

I like to make the traditional nut milk /squeeze the bag stuff-when I want the pulp for recipes. But..the 30 second stuff is great. You can even add agave, dates, vanilla, a little cocao or carob, little sea salt.. :D

Have fun..even add banana..

I hope I made your night.... :)
Lana

[glcoop60]

I get nuts from www.nutsonline.com. Almonds are $6.99 a pound for raw. Their organics are 13.99 a pound but they don't say if they are raw. Shipping is fast and cheap too.

I went to Home Depot and bought a pack of paint strainer bags. They were 2 to a bag for $1.98. They are made of nylon. I just washed them before use.

I tried making milk the way you did and it took about an hour. Using the bag, about 20 min. including clean up.

Just strain through bag into a large bowl, squeese pulp real good, then pour milk through fine strainer into glass containers. Turn bag inside out and remove pulp to use in another recipe and rinse bag.

Trust me it's worth it!!!!!!!!!!!! :)

[trinity082482]

Nut milk is super simple. I use cheese cloth. I cut a good size square and I fold it in half to make it thicker and then I pour my nut milk through it. When the pulp is let in the bag I squeeze the bag and it gives me at least 1/2 cup more milk from that also. And I swear cheese cloth works soooo good.. It doesn't even leave 1 speck of nut product left behind in the milk to drink. No gritties! Yeaah!! It works well for me. Super easy peazy :D

[Tirza]

Well okay, I've mentioned this somewhere before, but since you asked....

If you know that you are going to be making a "lot" of nut milk on a "regular" basis, consider this:

I used to make it for children and all my other milk needs so it amounted to quite a bit. So I devised a system that involved a blender and a juicer. The blender was just an Osterizer. The juicer was an Atlas or Acme centrifugal juicer with a flat disk grater and a strainer basket which was lined with a cellulose filter which fit inside. All the pulp would be on it when the process was finished. (The cellulose filter is important. It is just a strip of cellulose - a packet of 500 costs about $10 and I would reuse them sometimes) I would blend the soaked nuts with the water to a slush, then pour that slowly through that juicer as it was running. Voila!

It ran at such a super-high speed that the pulp would be super-dry and I would get the most clear, sediment-free juice from that thing! Since then I have learned that system is not the best for juice, so I got a different juicer for juice. But the old one sure worked for milks! Quick! Clear! No waste since it really took the liquid out of that pulp! The pulp was then ready to be used in anything else, or frozen, or dehydrated. And the cleanup was really nothing but rinsing out 3 or 4 parts.

If I was making quite a bit of milk on a daily basis, I would SERIOUSLY go to a second hand store and pick up one of those juicers just for that. Or coax one out of a friend who isn't using theirs anymore. I might even buy a new one. It is that good.

Yes, it is another piece of equipment. But people are buying nut milk makers and soy milk makers which don't do a fraction of the job this method does! Really! You have to decide for yourself if it is worth it to you. Other methods "work" but are more tedious, and less efficient as you have experienced. This method really rocks!

I do also like the idea of using the nut butters too. It is a neat "instant" method, but I would think, very expensive. Great in a pinch though.

As for cashew milk, I don't even bother straining it. My super-powered blender gets it so fine, it isn't worth it. The little bit of sediment resulting isn't so much and when shaken up, reminds me of half n half.

[goodbeets]

That is a greazt idea, Doubleg. I have a vitamix, which gets the particle pretty small, then put it through a pint strainer bag, squeezeand serve. I also reuse the meal in recipies. I swear this takes 2 minutes to blend, 1 to pour, 1 to squeeze. Easier than milking a cow!! haha

[Smileen]

I believe that somewhere in Alissa's book she said that when in a hurry she doesn't even bother to strain the almond milk.

[MaineMomof4]

Thanks for the advice everyone! Where do you get the cheese cloth? I haven't found any yet but didn't really know where to look besides my local health food store that didn't have any now. My kids don't like the pulp and to be quite honest it's not my favorite either. When you use the cheese cloth how do you hold it while you are pouring the milk through it?? Thanks!

[AICgem]

line a strainer with the cheese cloth then put the strainer over a bowl and pour nut milk through.
I sometimes pour the milk through just the strainer first to get the big pieces out then put the cheese cloth in and re-strain to get the fine pieces.

[Rawkinlocs]

I personally use nylon paint strainer bags from Home Depot! I found out about those a few years ago and they work just as well as any nut milk bag I've ever bought online! They have them in 1 gallon and 5 gallon sizes. I think the 1 gallon size is like $1 and the 5 gallon size about $2 and some change. I just buy a few of 'em and wash them when I get home and then use them. They can be used quite a number of times before they need replacing!

It's really quick and easy, IMHO, to make it...blend the nuts, water (and any other ingredients such as vanilla, sea salt, etc.), hold bag over a bowl, pour, squeeze/milk the bag and pour into a mason jar to store in the fridge!

I also let my younger kids "milk" the bag - they think it's fun! :)

Here's a picture of it so you can see how much it looks like a nut milk bag (sans the drawstring which you really don't even need anyway!):

[BGVDiva]

I used knee high nylons.

[MaineMomof4]

Rawkinlocs I'm going to go to Home Depot today, I would've never thought of that. I have been using a small strainer but I still get some almond residue and it takes FOREVER! THANK YOU EVERYONE ELSE TOO!!! :)