Moooooo-ove over, Dairy!

Nut Mylks!  Yum!  They are so good for you, so easy to make, and soooo not dairy!  As you've probably figured, Vegan Raw Foodists do not consume dairy in any form.  Yes, I know you're thinking about all those horrendous videos surfing around social networks and e-mail forwards regarding animal abuse...but it's not just that.  Yes, animal abuse is terrible, but so is human body abuse, and THAT'S exactly what Vegan Raw Foodists believe dairy (especially cow dairy) is doing to your body.  Contrary to the raw community majority, not all raw foodists despise all dairy; some do consume unpasteurized dairy, especially goat dairy.  To read an excerpt regarding dairy from Natalia Rose's The Raw Food Detox Diet, click here.

Whatever your opinion regarding dairy, you should still give nut mylks a try.  Who knows, you may find you like your chocolate milk better made with almond mylk instead of cows milk.  Or maybe that tropical banana smoothie you love would be even more tropical with a macadamia nut mylk?  At any rate, below is a ridiculously step-by-step visual explanation of how to make a basic nut mylk.  I promise my future recipe posts will not be this anal; I just want to make sure you folks are clear on the steps since making nut mylks and green smoothies probably defy your ideas of conventional food preperation.  Enjoy!

Almond Mylk 

The basic recipe for nut mylk is 1 part nuts to 3 parts water.  According to your preference of richness, you can use less or more water.  If you have a conventional blender, as I do, you might want to start with a small batch; you don't want your blender to overflow!  For example, try a 1/2 cup almonds to 1 1/2 cups water.  Feel fee to use cashews, almonds, brazil nuts, macadamias, etc; just make sure they are raw, not toasted.

Step 1:  Soak the nuts with pure water (this soaking ratio is not important; just make sure the nuts are covered completely with room to swell) at least 1 hour before making your mylk, preferably overnight, at room temperature.  Soaking the nuts not only makes them softer for blending, but also neutralizes their enzyme inhibitors for easier digestion, and so our bodies can access the nut's full nutritional profile.

This is a nut mylk bag.  Basically, it's cheese cloth with a draw string sewn in the top.  You do not have to have one these, but they do make the process easier.  I've seen people use both cheese cloth and fine mesh strainers to achieve the same outcome.

Step 2:  Once your nuts have soaked, drain and rinse a couple of times.  You will see the nuts have released some sediment, and their skins may be trying to peel off.  This is completely normal, but you do not want the original soak water in your nut mylk.  Add them to the blender along with the appropriate amount of water to your ratio.  In the picture above, you can see some bright yellow things floating around in my mixture.  Those are lecithin granules I have added to my batch; but, that is optional and not necessary for the recipe.

Step 3:  Blend!  Slow start, and then work up to a higher speed.  You do NOT want this mixture to be completely homogeneous like a green smoothie's texture.  You want to blend the nuts until they are blended to fine texture, but can still separate from the milk.  See below...

 

Step 4:  Pour the mylk mixture into your nut mylk bag, cheese cloth, strainer, etc.  At this point, you want to separate the almond pulp from the liquid.  If using a nut mylk bag or cheesecloth, you will literally need to squeeze the pulp quite aggressively to get the most liquid out of the pulp.

 

At this point, .you can flavor your almond mylk.  A sort of "standard" is to add a little bit of sweetener, and some vanilla extract.  I add a little pinch of salt to mine to give it some depth.  You can also add cinnamon, any flavor extract of your choice, cocoa or cacao powder, and the list goes on!  Store in the refrigerator, and enjoy just as you would cow's milk.

After "milking," you're left with almond pulp!  Don't throw this away!  If you have a dehydrator, you can dry the pulp, and then pulse in a food processor to make almond flour.  Or, you can turn your oven on the lowest setting, spread the pulp out on a cookie sheet, and dry that way.  If drying in the oven, your pulp with most likely not be raw due to your oven probably not going below 118 degrees F...which I'm sure some of you don't mind.  You can add almond flour to any baked/dehydrated good!  I've added almond flour/pulp to granola bars, breads, muffins, etc.

Please don't hesitate to ask me any questions; I will answer to the best of my ability!

Mmmmm....Fooooood,

Claire