When discussing this blog with a friend and going over a potential recipe, she asked me if I use store bought almond milk or made my own. I told her store bought, and she said that the taste and texture could be effected and suggested I do a side by side comparison.
There a ton of ways to make almond milk and recipes are plentiful. I didn't want to taste test a ton of almond milk recipes, because in my mind almost all of the homemade ones are going to taste pretty similar. Oh and be sure to stay tuned! My next recipe is going to feature commercially prepared almond milk and my homemade version and it will be like Iron Chef Medieval in my apartment.
Here is it!
1 cup ground almonds
2 cups boiling water
Combine the two ingredients, steep for about 5 minutes, let cool, and then blend until the grainy almond bits are basically absorbed. Please note that letting it cool before blending will prevent the lid of the blender from blowing off during blending.
At this point I got my sieve, placed it over the bowl I wanted the almond milk in, got some cheesecloth, cut it down, poured a little of the mixture in, and then started wringing it out. I do have to warn you that if you use too much force/put too much almond milk mixture in, it will break free of the cheesecloth and erupt. You just have to laugh, and maybe wear glasses, and let the tasteless jokes flow. An apron probably won't save you from the mess, either. To prevent an even larger mess from happening, I strained over the sink.
I think I'm going to borrow my mom's mesh food mill and give this recipe another try.
I used almond meal I had purchased from TJs, which is unblanched which could have contributed to the thickness of it all, versus more coarsely ground almonds. I also tripled the recipe in preparation for tomorrow's recipe. This made about 6 cups of almond milk.
My taste testing boyfriend said "This one (referring to the Almond Breeze) has a creamier nuttier finish. This one (the homemade almond milk) tastes like ground up almonds." I volunteered that it tasted better, and he sort of shrugged. Terrible taste tester!
I preferred the homemade almond milk.
I froze the almond pulp. I'm still figuring out what to do with it. This almond butter is a possibility. Oh, and homemade almond milk has a shelf-life of MAYBE 3 days, so use it up. It can be frozen, too.
There a ton of ways to make almond milk and recipes are plentiful. I didn't want to taste test a ton of almond milk recipes, because in my mind almost all of the homemade ones are going to taste pretty similar. Oh and be sure to stay tuned! My next recipe is going to feature commercially prepared almond milk and my homemade version and it will be like Iron Chef Medieval in my apartment.
Here is it!
Almond Breeze Unsweetened Almond Milk
This is pretty easy to find. I got mine at Trader Joe's, and I've also found it at WinCo. The pros are that it doesn't need to be refrigerated and it's pretty cheap. The cons are the ingredients which go pretty far past almonds and water. A brand of almond milk that I really enjoy is Califia, but it's pretty pricey and contains basically the same ingredients.
Almond Milk from A Boke of Gode Cookery.
I like this recipe because you can buy ground almonds and just go from there, versus buying the whole almonds, grinding them, etc. Also it skips the whole grind strain add more water process.The only thing I'm not so down with about the original recipe is that it's suggested you can skip the straining process. I got super excited about that and what should have been my finished product was *very* creamy so I decided to strain.1 cup ground almonds
2 cups boiling water
Combine the two ingredients, steep for about 5 minutes, let cool, and then blend until the grainy almond bits are basically absorbed. Please note that letting it cool before blending will prevent the lid of the blender from blowing off during blending.
At this point I got my sieve, placed it over the bowl I wanted the almond milk in, got some cheesecloth, cut it down, poured a little of the mixture in, and then started wringing it out. I do have to warn you that if you use too much force/put too much almond milk mixture in, it will break free of the cheesecloth and erupt. You just have to laugh, and maybe wear glasses, and let the tasteless jokes flow. An apron probably won't save you from the mess, either. To prevent an even larger mess from happening, I strained over the sink.
I think I'm going to borrow my mom's mesh food mill and give this recipe another try.
I used almond meal I had purchased from TJs, which is unblanched which could have contributed to the thickness of it all, versus more coarsely ground almonds. I also tripled the recipe in preparation for tomorrow's recipe. This made about 6 cups of almond milk.
My taste testing boyfriend said "This one (referring to the Almond Breeze) has a creamier nuttier finish. This one (the homemade almond milk) tastes like ground up almonds." I volunteered that it tasted better, and he sort of shrugged. Terrible taste tester!
I preferred the homemade almond milk.
 |
| The cup on the right is the homemade. The cup on the left is the store bought. |
I froze the almond pulp. I'm still figuring out what to do with it. This almond butter is a possibility. Oh, and homemade almond milk has a shelf-life of MAYBE 3 days, so use it up. It can be frozen, too.
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