Spring is here now. Very early, and I guess I should devote a post to all the flowers that have started to come up. The birds that are returning, and-or the trees maybe getting a hint of green soon.
But no.
I intend to write about a slightly more obscure topic.
Nutmilk.
For a variety of reasons Kelly and I decided we should try and avoid cows' milk. So, we started trying alternatives. Ricemilk. Soymilk. Goatsmilk (actually quite tasty) and our latest test; Nutmilk.
Home-made nut milk. Great stuff, so long as you are not allergic to nuts.
Kelly saw a recipe on-line for nut-milk, and decided to try it with almonds.
Now, I was not too sure of the project at first. The milk looked brown. And I am not very fond of nuts. But, it was actually very tasty! I soon finished off the two liters she had made - wanting more at the end.
So, today I made my first batch of nutmilk. Pecan-milk.It has - as you may be able to see from my webcam-shot image - somewhat darker than normal milk.
But the taste is good. And it is cheap!
The recipe - which is exceptionally easy - can be used with many kinds of nuts. Not just almonds.
And it yields very much milk for a low amount of nuts. And a very short and small amount of work.
What you do to make your own is:
Get yourself some nuts (d'oh)
Let these nuts stay in water for about 8 hours. (don't boil them. That destroys some of the nutrition). So, put the nuts into the bowl of water before you leave for work in the morning. And when you get home they will be ready.
Then, pour out the water, keeping the nuts.
Add water and nuts to a blender, at a ratio of 4 parts water to 1 part nuts.
Blend it very well. Kelly says 2-3 minutes. I did the pecans for five.
You will need to remove the ground nuts (which can be ingredients for homemade icecream? Or Marzipan maybe? Yum!) so sift the milk through as fine a sift as you can get. Be prepared to stop and clean it out a few times. The nut fragments can stop the milk from running through the sift.
Pour the milk back in the blender, and add sweetener and/or spice to your liking. We use honey, a touch of vanilla and some cinnamon. But it is fine without this if you prefer.
Blend it a little more.
And voila! It is ready to be served!
Though... It does taste a little better chilled. So putting it in the fridge is not a bad idea.
