so easy to make, you'll never buy it again - Almond Milk

Recently I embarked on an anti-inflammatory diet regime. I say 'embarked' because it is a journey and I am still on the path, having ventured off it to my detriment. The beauty of this diet is that, for me, the results (decreased pain) were swift and the consequences of wavering from the regime were equally as swift (returned pain).

The 3 week elimination diet kickstarts with a shake, meal, shake system, which I totally ignored, because no regime that denies me dinner is ever going to stick. Luckily I am a chef and once I unearthed the rules and reasoning I was able to adapt the ingredients of a shake to a meal with no loss of effect (well, I think, anyway!)

But the breakfast shake was a hit, I loved them and the world of superfoods opened up to me. There was just one icky part for me- finding acceptable milk replacements.



The idea of milk substitute grosses me out- there really is no replacement for milk, what milk is and does. When I am faced with this issue, as with finding gluten replacements or egg replacements, my response is 'Can't have the real thing? Forget about it then. Eat something else,'. I have spent a lot of time discussing how a gluten free person can have a sandwich, and always my answer involves a discussion about how gluten may cause a health reaction, but the other ingredients in the substitutes are not any better for you. Can't eat sourdough (wheat, water and salt)? Well the soy flour, tapioca, potato starch and zanthan gum in the gluten free version need some thought too.

On the anti-inflammatory diet there are some rules:
1. No soy.
No worries here. I won't eat soy milk for reasons discussed (in heavy handed political tone, but the nutritional content is enough to raise reasonable doubt) here.
2. No canola oil.
Search the site I just mentioned and you'll find plenty of reasons why you want to quit veg oils altogether. Start reading labels and you'll find most milk replacements are pureed and emulsified with canola, then sweetened (and sometimes salted too!) with other additives to assist with shelf stability. Not really a 'natural' choice.

Eventually I found an almond milk that listed no oil, contained water and almonds and minimal other ingredients- agave syrup and cargaheen. Since I know what they are it passed, but I shuddered at the $8 price tag every time. Not because it was out of reach for me but the cost of this product made me question whether I was having a 'first world problem' illness. You know, the kind of illness that you get when you have too much choice and eat too much anyway and probably feel a little off because your diet is saturated with an excess of extraordinary ingredients? Yes..well..

So you can imagine my delight when I found a super simple recipe for making my own almond milk in Sarah Wilson's I Quit Sugar book. I did it. It worked. No more $8 plus additives almond milk for me. Just something I made, which I don't have to buy anymore.

Making almond milk.

Soak 1c almonds overnight. On the bench at room temp.

The next day, rinse off the almonds and put them in the jug of your food processor with 2 cups of water. You'll use thee cups in total, but you add the other cup during the processing.
Blitz to a fine, fine slush, maybe 3-5 minutes depending on the power and blade in your processor. Add in the full amount of water during this time.

Place a fine strainer over a large bowl (you'll get up to a litre of almond milk volume remember), and if you have it, line the strainer with muslin cloth. If you don't have that, don't worry, you'll just find you get slightly gritty almond milk. This is fine for smoothies, but not great for chai or teas.

Pour the milk through and allow it to drain from the meal. You can press the meal to get maximum extraction.
Decant the milk into a bottle or jar and refrigerate.

You've done it. Easy.

I can't tell you how long it keeps for, mine was only ever in the fridge for a week. So it keeps for a week.

I have a recipe to post later that uses up the meal that remains once you've made the milk. For now, squeeze it out and freeze it for later. It'll keep.