Make Your Own Delicious Fresh Nut Milk with Healthy Ingredients
When I tell people I make my own nut milk, they are often surprised. Making nut milk is SO EASY!!!! After realizing some mass-produced nut milk includes additives, including carrageenan and soybean oil, I decide to make my own. It literally takes a few minutes to make fresh nut milk and you get to control the quality of the ingredients.
Certain nuts require soaking overnight to break down their digestive enzymes, such as (almonds). Some suggest soaking all nuts in water to help aid in digestion. Since I never seem to plan ahead with soaking the almonds, I’ve grown fond of using hazelnuts, cashews and pistachios, which I do not soak. However, if you tend to have problems with digestion, then you may want to research the benefits of soaking nuts before making milk (here).
Lately I soak a larger quantity of almonds, and then I freeze the overnight soaked almonds for future use.
The Ingredients
Using just three simple ingredients-water, nuts, and dates (or sweetener of your choice)you can make fresh nut milk without any of the nasty preservatives. You can also add spices if you’d like-cinnamon, cardamon or even vanilla extract. Be creative!
Blending
Place 4 cups of water (filtered) in a blender. Personally I love my Vita-Mix because it has a heavy duty motor. Add 1 cup of nuts of your choice (for this recipe: I used 1/2 cup of raw pistachios and 1/2 cup of raw unsalted cashews).
If you want to naturally sweeten your milk you can add one date (or more if you want the milk sweeter-make sure you remove the pit. Any dried dates will do but I use Trader Joe’s Fancy Medjool Dates. Gradually increase the blender speed until the nuts and dates are ground finely-60 seconds or so. Some people add a touch of salt, but I do not.
Straining
Pour the milk into a nut bag -LOVE this nut bag: Pure Joy Planet Nut Milk Bag and squeeze away! I tried using cheesecloth but this nut bag is worth the $11.95 investment. Using a very large measuring cup (like this one)is an easy way to secure the nut bag and pour out the milk.
Storing
Any glass container would work. I prefer glass to plastic, just because. Amazon has a 2 pack of durable liter bottles with BPA-free snap on lids you can find here.
Fresh nut milk lasts about a week and then it sours. Makes you wonder about the long shelf life of commercially made nut milk.
Benefits of Nut Milk
Using various nuts alters the flavor of the milk, making your morning coffee even more exciting. Ounce for ounce, nut milks have almost universally lower calories than cow’s milk, and many of them have at least as much (or more) calcium and vitamin D. Many nut milks even contain fiber, a nutrient you won’t find in cow’s milk. And it is dairy-free!
In Summary
It literally takes me 5 minutes to make fresh nut milk~truly it is so simple and so much more delicious.If you use pistachios, the milk will be a pale green color. Nut milk is perfect for lattes, cappuccinos, and iced coffees.
Each morning I make a latte using my Nespresso machine. It was a birthday present a few years ago and even though it’s a bit pricey, it has been paid for itself with all the coffees we make. Here is my machine, a Nespresso Breville Creatista, which also has a wand for making steamed milk.
For the pool house, I just purchased a smaller Nespresso machine, CitiZ with an attached milk frother. We are big fans of Nespresso and I cannot say enough about their products and customer service. They make the best espresso and steamed milk.
I pour it all in my “happy” cup (from Anthropologie) and the day begins. The topping of ground sugar, chocolate and coffee was originally purchased at Trader Joe’s. However, they don’t stock this anymore, so my sweet husband fills the grinder with German rock sugar, dark chocolate and coffee beans.
Happy Wednesday! Today my son and his friends will arrive so the house will be chock-a-block full. Such bliss when the family is all together! Wishing you a happy day and please do consider making your own nut milk.
Making Fresh Nut Milk
Ingredients
- 1 cup nuts almonds, pistachio, hazelnuts, cashews
- 1 pitted date optional
- 4 cups filtered water
- pinch of salt optional
Instructions
- Put all ingredients into a blender.
- Slowly increase the blender speed until you reach HIGH
- Blend for 60 seconds until all the nuts are completely ground.
- Pour liquid into a nut mesh bag or a fine sieve.
- Squeeze to remove all the nut solids out and discard
- Pour milk into a glass container and refrigerate.
Notes
Just a reminder that any words that are italicized bring you to the source. If it is a product on Amazon, please note that I am an Amazon Affiliate. If you purchase something through my website, I receive a small (very small!) stipend, which doesn’t affect the price you pay at all. My goal is to make sourcing the items easy for you. Thank you for your continued support.
It looks like a great recipe and I’m sure it tastes wonderful. But , seriously, how many families could afford to make this? Have you checked the price of nuts these days ? Unless it’s Chrismas, I doubt you’d find hazel nuts and certainly not figs. Perhaps driving an hour or so to a different store — maybe I’d find it. But, I’m not doing that either (with the price of gas) to make milk.
Elfrieda, we get our almonds at Costco. They freeze well and homemade almond milk is less expensive than buying the ones in the store. The bags is huge so no need to waste gas running to the store to buy some. Cheaper and healthier in the long run!
You know I have a thing for your almond milk Mary. And that gorgeous coffee cup.
Well, it was fun to make fresh almond milk for you while you were visiting. And I am keeping a lookout for those cups!
It is a very clear recipe and actually at once easy and fun. As pure as it gets. Thank you !
Fabulous Mary! I used to make all my own stuff but haven’t for so many years! This took me back, and inspired me to try again. It would sure save all those air pack containers from going into our recycling too! 🙂 Thanks and hope you have a lovely time with your houseful!
Barbara, well you have been so busy with work and your blog, I can understand why you don’t have time! This is so easy and I always seem to have the ingredients on hand…faster than going to the store for me.
I love this recipe so much and it tastes great. Thanks for sharing Mary!
What a great post! Thanks so much! Excellent photos, too.☕
Jane, thank you!
I love this recipe and seriously I have never made my own nut milk before but now that I know how to make it and how easy it is to make I will definitely start making my own! Thanks a bunch for this simple recipe and I love the pale green color also!
Try to say, “Happy nut milk making,” three times! I can’t even type it!!!! 🙂