Tuesday, April 12, 2011

Nut Milk, My New Love!

Move over soy milk! I have a new love; nut milk.  


A few weeks ago, I started following a high raw diet which is consuming more than 80% uncooked food. I eat predominantly vegetables, fruits, raw seeds and nuts. Since then I have been drinking homemade nut milk almost every day. I love the taste and the creamy texture of it, especially when I add raw cacao powder to the mix to make very delicious chocolate nut milk.  


I have tried making nut milk using almonds, brazil nuts, cashew and macadamia nuts so far which all yields a very delicious and nutritious drink. While almond milk is easily accessible and probably is more economical to purchase, I prefer to make my own almond nut milk because I don't want additional ingredients that usually come along with almonds; sugar, preservatives, stabilizers or other processed ingredients.  Good news is making delicious nut milk is very simple and doesn't require a lot of ingredients or efforts. There are a lot of recipes for nut milk on the internet but the following recipe is the one that I use the most. 


Nut Milk Recipe
Ingredients: 

  • 1 cup organic, raw nuts of choice, soaked at least for 8 hours
  •  3 cups of filtered water or 4 cups if using macadamia or brazil nuts
  •  3-4 organic medjool date (I like my milk sweet)
  •  a pinch of himalayan pink salt
  •  a pinch of organic, raw vanilla been powder

Method:  

  • Place all ingredients in a blender and blend on high speed or Vitamix for 1 minute or so. 
  • For a smooth texture, use a nut milk bag or cheesecloth to strain the mixture. Most of the time, I don't bother straining it as I like my drink creamy and thick. 
  • Enjoy this delicious milk as is or add 1 tbsp raw, organic cacao powder to make creamy delicious chocolate milk or frozen strawberries/blueberries to make tasty strawberry or blueberry milk.
  • Store in a glass jar in the fridge for up to 3 days.