Go Nuts!

I’m loving Nadia Lim’s healthy food column in Sunday magazine! This week she talked about making nut milk – which reminded me that, although I wrote about this for the Otago Daily Times last year, I’d never posted it here. For those of you who missed it, here goes….

When I run Nibl plant-based food workshops, people are often amazed to see how easy it is to make this at home. If you would like to try an alternative to cow’s milk– for health reasons, for variety, because you’re looking for new and innovative ways to mess up your kitchen, or because you want to avoid the additives in commercial nut milk – here’s how to do it.

Milk can be made out of a range of foods. Rice, coconut, buckwheat, quinoa – all can be used to create a similar substance, with their own individual flavours and nutritional profiles. I’m focusing here on how to make milk out of almonds. (As an aside, some plant-based foodies call this ‘mylk’ – but that could potentially give the impression of not having paid enough attention at primary school, so I’m sticking with ‘milk’.)

Any type of raw nuts can be used in this recipe. I find that the easiest, most efficient way to strain nut milk is to use a nut milk bag – I have a few for sale if you’re wondering where to get them! If you use cashews or macadamias you can omit the straining step and you won’t be left with any pulp.

Nut Milk

1 cup raw nuts

3 – 4 cups filtered water (plus extra water for soaking nuts)

Pinch of sea salt

3 – 4 dates (optional – soak for at least an hour if dried)

 Step 1: Place the nuts in a large bowl and cover generously with water. Cover the bowl and leave nuts to soak for eight hours or overnight. Drain and rinse well, discarding the water. (The nuts will have increased in size by about half.)

Step 2: Place soaked nuts in a blender with 2 cups of filtered water.

Step 3: Blend until nuts are pulverised, then add another 1 or 2 cups of water (less water for more luxurious milk), sea salt and optional dates. Blend again until smooth and creamy.

Step 4: Pour milk into a clean piece of muslin or a nut milk bag which has been placed over a large jug or bowl.

Step 5: Strain out as much liquid as possible – you don’t want to waste a drop!

Step 6: Drink as is, or add to another recipe. If not using milk immediately, store in airtight jars in the fridge for up to 3 days.

Notes: Leftover nut pulp can be used in baking or bliss balls; it can also be dried out to make muesli. Or if you happen to have chickens, and leftover nut pulp, and there’s a particularly significant chicken birthday coming up – I’d say you’re sorted for a present.

For an incredibly thorough guide to plant-based milks and their characteristics (including how good they are in coffee!), check out this very cool post from Health Yeah! And if you want to learn about making all kinds of plant-based substitutes for dairy products, check out a Not for Me, Dairy! workshop, which I’ll be running on request in 2015.

Want some great recipes which use nut milk? Grab yourself some of my best recipes for free in this ebook.