My Almond Milk

I make my own almond milk.  With a touch of lactose intolerance, almond milk works best for my cereal and smoothies.  I bought the beverage in the store for years until I began reading the ingredient labels.  There were almonds, water and depending on the style, vanilla, and something to sweeten it.  But then there was natural flavoring, sunflower lecithin, locust bean gum, gellan gum and ascorbic acid.  Some brands had ingredients I didn't know.  Now apparently Almond Breeze has had to recall some of their cartons because they contain real dairy milk!  Making your own almond milk or any nut milk is easy. 
Start with almonds that have been hulled but not roasted or salted.  In a bowel soak the almonds in spring or distilled water for a few hours.  I like to do the soaking overnight.  

Next I rinse them and pop them into my blender.  I have a Ninja/chef with variable speed.  You just see it to the right in the picture. If you want to you can add a bit of vanilla or sweetener.   I only add about a teaspoon of vanilla to mine. Blend till it's a slurry.  From here you can put it in a nut milk bag and hang it up over a bowl.  I use an old bed sheet and put it in a press.  I like the press as I can get every drop of goodness from the almonds.   Afterwards the bag will have almond meal left behind.  The meal can be used in cooking, given to chickens or tossed in the compost.. I often send it to my daughters farm to give to the pigs.  I get bacon in return!  If you want a cleaner milk for your family try making your own.  It's not hard, it just takes a bit of time.  Bon Appetito!

My press.