I never thought I would be the sort of person to make my own alternative milk (I tried, but I’m secretly twelve and saying ‘nut milk’ makes me giggle), but here we are! Like a lot of people with multiple food allergies, certain staples are beyond me not because of their base ingredients, but due to their additives.
Milk made from almonds, or cashews, or any kind of ingredient like that usually contains vitamins and thickeners to help disguise their original texture and make it ‘feel’ more like milk when we drink it. The problem for me lies in the carrier oils that get that vitamin E into the drink. I can’t say for certain, because most companies don’t dive so deeply into their ingredients lists to post the ingredients of their ingredients (if you get me. That was a clear overuse of the word ‘ingredients’)
So when I turn red and get a bit tender around the face, I have to go back to my old friend: Square One and restrict my diet to see if I’ve added something new to my diet that my body doesn’t like or…the company has changed its recipe (dunh dunh Dunh!) After you do this a couple or ten times, the novelty has a way of wearing off.
Which is why I began making my own alternative milk on my own. In my own house! I feel like a Tudor housewife in far more comfortable clothing. However, with a corn allergy, I should note that you need to be careful where you source your nuts. If you have a more severe allergy, you might get bit by how the nuts are harvested/processes, and even the packaging.
To combat this, I went with a brand I’ve eaten before, and which I more or less trust in terms of packaging consistency. I also always rinse my nuts before I start turning them into milk. I don’t know if that helps, but it certainly can’t hurt, and it makes me feel better. The one thing I’ve learned while Eating Allergic is that I need to take the steps that make me feel more secure. If I don’t, who will?
This is cashew milk, which has a mild, delightfully luxurious density and flavor. I like it better than almond milk (too bitter) and I think the texture is leagues above too-watery rice milk. I use it in my coffee in the morning, and for baking.
You’ll Need (Makes 4 cups):
1 cup raw cashews
2 cups cold water (to soak)
1 tsp Honey (or to taste)
½ tsp kosher salt (or to taste)
4 cups cold water (to blend)
Rinse 1 cup of raw cashews, and then put them in a bowl with 2 cups of cold water to soak either for at least 6 hours, or overnight. I prefer overnight, but you do you!
In the morning, drain the water from the cashews, and blend together ½ cup of the cashews with the honey and 1 cup of the water until the nuts are completely blitzed. Pour into a separate bowl or jug with a lid, and repeat the blending with the next ½ cup of cashews and another cup of cold water.
Add the last cup of blitzed cashews into your bowl or jug, and then mix in the last two cups of water. I think this has the texture of a higher fat milk, but I honestly don’t remember what milk tastes like, so your mileage may vary. You can make the milk lighter or thicker depending on the amount of water you use in the recipe. This amount lasts me about a week, or week and a half, and I find it easily scalable for when I need more milk in a recipe.
Additional Comments:
- I don’t sieve my milk, because I don’t mind the particles leftover from blending, but if you do, then I recommend putting it through a drip coffee filter (let gravity do the work!) or buying some cheesecloth and pouring the blended nuts and water through the cloth prior to adding the last two cups of water, and then squeezing very gently and carefully.
- You can also definitely use those blitzed particles in a different recipe! Spread it carefully on parchment paper on a tray with a lid. Dry it out in an oven at about 250F and it can be added to GF flours while baking, or used as part of a brittle, and even a pie crust! Just be careful about the amount of liquid
- I believe you can use this recipe for any kind of raw nut with which you want to try making into an alternative milk, or white rice (I don’t know about brown). Just make sure the nuts are raw!
But What Can You Eat? 