to peel or not to peel...

[stephbkr]

Does anyone know why one would peel an almond to make almond milk? Is there nutritional value lost or gained by doing so? Some recipies suggest it. Why would one sit around peeling almonds? Too time consuming!

[SamuelWilson]

stephbkr, yeah, I wouldn't bother with peeling almonds. Alissa does not recommend peeling almonds in her book, so I don't peel them.

I do recommend that you rinse your soaked almonds with fresh water until they rinse clear with out the reddish brown color from the skins.

[rawpriestess]

Some people like their nutmilks super white, and also it does make the milk a little sweeter, however, I personally have tried it once, and that was enough for me.

It wasn't any big deal for me to peel them, just took a few minutes, actually a nice peace filled meditation, however, it didn't make enough difference in the taste to make it worth the while to me.

So, we don't peel them, but we do soak them, and rinse many times, we soak for at least 12 hours, and rinse several times every 4 hours, then keep soaking.

[Shona]

I don't bother peeling almonds either, but I don't care if my nutmilk is super-white and I'm really lazy. :D

Shona :)

[sport]

If you are discarding the pulp after making the milk then it would not make any difference but some use it as an ingredent for other things. I would imagine that there is lots of good stuf left in the pulp so it is a pity to waste it.

[Shona]

If you are discarding the pulp after making the milk then it would not make any difference but some use it as an ingredent for other things. I would imagine that there is lots of good stuf left in the pulp so it is a pity to waste it.

The peel is edible, so why couldn't you still use the pulp? I do and it doesn't seem to affect recipes at all.

Shona :)