It’s safe to say nut milks are the newest food trend. As far as I know, when I was younger there was only soy milk and my generation rarely drank that. Growing up, I always had a glass of skim milk with dinner and sometimes even 2%. My parents joked when I was a baby that they needed a cow out in the backyard to keep up with my rapid intake of milk. However, within the past few years as the health trend of almond milk has taken over, I cannot tell you the last time I bought dairy milk on my own. Even when I visit my parents, I usually buy some brand of almond milk at the store.
This year I noticed how much I was buying almond milk. There was this constant struggle of having to trek to the store in the freezing cold to lug half a gallon of almond milk back to my apartment. It might not sound that bad but when you’ve got your grocery bag filled with large apples and sweet potatoes… things add up!
I knew that making nut milk was possible to do myself, especially with my handy dandy Vitamix. The only issue was I needed a massive amount of nuts (preferably in bulk) and a nut milk bag. Last weekend I finally got around to ordering the two off of Amazon and was extremely pleased with my results.
I ended up purchasing a 2 pound bag of cashews for $15.95 and a fine mesh nylon pro quality nut milk bag for $8.99. I decided on cashews because ever since trying Silk’s newest cashew milk, I have been dying to recreate the creaminess. Sure homemade almond milk is creamy because it is just almonds and filtered water, no additives like gellan gum, locust bean gum, or carrageenan. Because homemade nut milk is just nuts and water, it last a few days shorter than your store-bought nut milk. I don’t mind this considering the easy process it is to make the milk and the flavor tastes like melted ice cream. Who wouldn’t want that?
It makes coffee, smoothies and cereal tastes infinitely better. I first tried this homemade cashew milk over a bowl of sprouted brown rice cacao crisps from One Degree Organic Foods. It was like chocolate milk and rice krispies. Best breakfast for dessert ever.
- 1 cup of cashews
- 4 cups of filtered water
- 3 dates
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- Soak 1 cup of cashews in a bowl with enough water to cover the cashews.
- Let sit for a minimum of 4 hours but you can do overnight.
- Drain the cashews, rinse and place in a blender with dates and vanilla extract.
- Blend until well combined.
- Pour through your nut milk bag into mason jars or a large glass container.
- Store in fridge for up to 5 days for max freshness.
I successfully made two large mason jars filled with this cashew milk, which ended up being a little over four cups. I had the clever idea of attempting to add strawberries to a cup of it to make a strawberry milk but it did not go as planned.
If you like your nut milks sweeter than the unsweetened flavors, add more dates or feel free to sweeten it up with a bit of maple syrup! Something different than the usual cane syrup/white sugar that is added to store bought varieties.
This is one of my favorite recipes so far and I’ve now made two batches in the past week. I most likely will have to make another tonight. I definitely think it’s impossible for me to go a day without drinking this stuff it is that good!
Enjoy and Happy Sunday!
-Addie
