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

In just a few minutes, you can make your own fresh nut milk

1 cup nuts (almonds, pistachio, hazelnuts, cashews)
1 pitted date (optional)
4 cups filtered water
pinch of salt (optional)

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.

Some nuts need to be soaked to break down enzyme inhibitors. Soak 1 cup of nuts in 4 cups of water for 10 hours or overnight. Rinse well before using.

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