Nutmilk

A few people have asked how nutmilk is made. I initially followed recipes by vegan and raw food authors, but it's so easy that I don't need to anymore. To make fresh nutmilk, All you need is a blender and a nutmilk/sprouting bag (I bought mine online from Raw Pleasure ( http://www.rawpleasure.com however I have also seen them on eBay). Alternatively, you can use double cheesecloth to strain the milk, but I've never tried that.

I follow a ratio of one cup nuts or seeds (unsoaked) to four cups filtered water. Soak one cup of nuts in filtered water, then drain and rinse them. Add the nuts to your blender, add four cups of filtered water, and blend thoroughly. Pour the mixture through the nutmilk bag over a bowl, to catch the milk. Tie the open end of the bag, then squeeze the nut pulp to extract as much milk as possible from the pulp. The bowl will be filled with tasty nutmilk!

You can drink it like that, or (as I prefer) you can pour the milk back into the blender and add sweetener and a pinch of Celtic sea salt. I usually add 2 tablespoons of agave syrup or two soaked dates as the sweetener for my general-use milk, or 1/4 cup agave syrup and 1 to 2 packets of stevia for a sweet milk (or several drops of liquid stevia). I also always add a teaspoon of vanilla to the general and sweet milks. Throw your additions in the blender, and blend thoroughly again. Store the milk in the fridge and use it within a few days. You'll need to stir or shake it up before use/drinking.

You can discard the nut pulp, or you can put it to use in other recipes. I put mine in storage bags and freeze them, then when I'm going to make buckwheat breakfast crispies I add it.

You can also make really fast nutmilks with raw nut or seed butter. Blend two heaped tablespoons of raw nut butter, tahini etc with two cups of water, plus your sweetener and a pinch of sea salt. It's good for when you're in a hurry.

My absolute favourite nutmilk is macadamia milk. It's delicious and refreshing. I also love almond milk (love it when it's icy cold), Brazil nut milk (really good in berry shakes!), and sesame milk. I found pecan milk a bit too rich for me, even though the pecan is my favourite nut.

Oh, and just a word on soaking - different nuts require different soaking times. Almonds need a longer time (about 8 hours, although I have soaked them for 36 hours before, rinsing and changing the water twice, and the almond flavour was richer, like marzipan), whereas macadamias are softer and are ready in an hour. I usually make nutmilk in the morning, so I most of the time I soak all nuts overnight to be sure.

And that's it! Easy :)