Living in England usually means always having some form of milk to hand, if not for yourself then at least for the cups of tea that will inevitably be offered to house guests. I’ve not bought dairy milk for years, but I’m also not keen on buying non-dairy milks from shops either – I like to keep it simple and know exactly what’s in my products, and I also hate the packaging. So today I thought I’d share the super easy nut milk recipe that I use so you can make it for yourself at home. I normally make almond milk but this recipe works for milk made with any nuts, you just have to change how long they soak for. So take a zero waste kit to any shop with bulk bins to grab some almonds/nuts (Lidl sells them in bulk bins now so you don’t even need a fancy shop) and make zero waste milk forever! This recipe will last around 3-4 days in the fridge as it’s free from preservatives.

Ingredients

• 1 cup almonds
• 4 cups filtered water (these measurements can be changed, just roughly aim for 4 times more water than almonds)
• *Optional* agave syrup, dates or vanilla essence

Instructions

• Soak your almonds in water for at least 8 hours (it’s easiest to leave them overnight)
• Once soaked, fully rinse the almonds before adding them to the blender
• Add the water and blend for a few minutes until the mixture is smooth and white
• If you want to you can add vanilla essence for added flavour or agave syrup/dates for sweetness, and blend again until smooth
• Strain the mixture through a muslin cloth over a bowl, squeezing firmly to get all the milk out
• Transfer into a bottle, and store in the fridge. The milk will naturally separate over time, so make sure to give it a shake before serving!

And that’s it! You’ll find that when you strain the mixture you’ll have a lot of almond pulp left, don’t throw this out either! You can use this pulp for a variety of other uses, including making almond flour, but my favourite is these almond pulp crackers. I add orange zest to make sweet versions, YUM.

And if you’re thinking of making milk from other kinds of nuts, here are the soaking times they’ll need:

Almonds: 8 to 12 hours
Hazelnuts: 8 hours
Macadamias: 8 hours
Peanuts: 8 hours
Pine nuts: 8 hours
Pecans: 4 to 6 hours
Walnuts: 4 hours
Cashews: 2 hours
Pistachios: no soaking needed

Source

Until next time, stay magic y’all.