Organic Homemade Almond Milk

I miss dairy.

During pregnancy, I craved it, and I figured that was a good thing.  I truly believe if you're eating healthy than your body knows what it needs, and my body wanted calcium.  Organic milk and raw cheeses filled our fridge.  However, I still tried to have small servings because my body always has had an issue with dairy.

So after delivering my sweet baby boy, I knew I wanted to start Whole 30 Autoimmune Protocol rather quickly, to better serve my son and my health.  I noticed almost immediately a sensitivity to dairy again, with increased gas for my son.  So again I made the transition to dairy free eating.

Welcome back almond milk.

It's hard to find a reliable almond milk at the store, and I'll be honest, I've settled.  Probably the best brand I have found at most stores is Blue Diamond, which seems to have the least amount of gums.  Those who follow paleo know that even guar gum, carageenan, and other "natural" additives can offset our tummies and dietary goals.

So I have made my own almond milk in the past and decided to share how I make it today- as well as a new thing for me...making homemade almond meal!

So where to start?  You know, it's all about those almonds.  All almonds in the U.S. are pasteurized unless you can find them raw and unpasteurized directly from a local farm.  In the pasteurization process, the almonds lose important enzymes and nutrients that make them such a great food.  So finding raw almonds is best, and I was able to find a great product on Amazon.  Terrasoul Superfoods Raw Unpasteurized Almonds are from Spain and about $25 a bag for 2 pounds.

This was my first time using my nut milk bag for my recipe.  I got mine from Ellie's best and was excited to use it to make my almond milk even better and have leftover pulp for almond meal and baking.  I found Ellie's nut milk bag to be much easier to use than cheesecloth, especially for a larger quantity.

Is making your own almond milk cost effective over buying almond milk at the store?  I already had the other ingredients for other recipes so lets see how affordable the homemade almond milk is if you just break down the almond pricing.  I used 1 cup of almonds so thats about $6.25 of almonds (using brand I bought).  Considering a quart of blue diamond is $4 at most stores I've seen for 4 cups of milk, the blue diamond would equate to $1 a cup, while the homemade version would be $1.25 a cup.  So only a 25 cent difference for having a much healthier, cleaner, nutritious glass of almond milk that is free from all additives, gums and is only 5 ingredients.  I think it's worth it!  Not to mention the leftover pulp that I can use in recipes for baking and breads ;o)

You will see in my recipe that I soak and dehydrate my almonds.  That is to make them easier for the gut to digest.  Also, nutritional inhibitors and toxic substances found in nut grains and seed can be minimized or eliminated by the soaking process.  Dehydrating wasn't necessary for the almond milk, but I had used extra almonds as pictured because I was saving to make almond butter.

I hope you enjoy this recipe- it's one of my favorites, and I'm enjoying making it again!


Organic Homemade Almond Milk (makes 5 cups of almond milk or 1 quart and 1 cup) (GF, DF, Soy-free, GMO-free, preservative/additive free)

1 cup raw unpasteurized almonds
4 1/2 cups filtered water
4 organic dates
1 tspn organic vanilla extract
pinch of himilayan sea salt
pinch of cinnamon

Soak 1 cup of almonds in filtered water for 7 to 8 hours.  Use dehydrator if you plan on making almond butter; otherwise you can skip this step.  Place your almonds in a blender and add 4 1/2 cups filtered water.  Add the vanilla extract, pinch of salt and pinch of cinnamon.  Blend for a minute on high.  Pour mixture into cheesecloth or your nut milk bag placed in dish to catch almond milk.  Twist and squeeze the bag to get all the almond milk out.  You can set aside the leftover pulp in the fridge for baking.  Now enjoy or place in glass bottle and refrigerate!

Blessings,

Lindsay