Making Mylk
By Sara Scobie, written for Curate Magazine Issue 5: Process
We are a generation of convenience. After a busy day, it can seem impossible to find the time to throw a meal together. However, some processes can be therapeutic, allowing you to wind down whilst getting to know the food you eat. Making your own almond mylk is one of those processes and takes around 10 minutes, resulting in creamy, delicious loveliness.
Making your own foods, skincare and cleaning products can be empowering. Time is a luxury that few of us have for sourcing ingredients and researching methods, but there’s delight to be had in occasional home-making sessions. Making your own fridge staples and beauty products opens your eyes to how few ingredients are needed. Recipes with few ingredients that are simple to make are often the most expensive to buy off the shelf.
Homemade almond mylk is creamier, cheaper and super speedy, meaning that you’ll have a delicious, nutrient-rich bottle of yum in your fridge in minutes.
Whether you’re looking to take a break from dairy, or simply want to consume less, homemade almond mylk is creamier, cheaper and super speedy, meaning that you’ll have a delicious, nutrient- rich bottle of yum in your fridge in minutes. The hardest part is remembering to soak the nuts the night before. If you do forget you needn’t go without; cashew nuts create a sweet and frothy mylk that needs no soaking time. There are endless variations of nut mylks. Pumpkin seeds make a lovely, pale, mint-green coloured milk with a slight savoury flavour. If you get a neat idea, give it a go, you’ll never know what you might discover.
Almond mylk isn’t quite as nutritious or as high protein as cows’ milk. Yet homemade almond mylk is lactose, cholesterol and saturated fat free. It’s a source of calcium, magnesium, vitamin B2 and E, which is an antioxidant. Shop-bought almond milk often contains less than 2 per cent almonds, the rest is made up of water and added vitamins, minerals, sweeteners and thickening agents. Homemade almond mylk is tastier and 100% natural and organic, if you so wish. Making your own is a great addition to a rich and varied diet, whilst deepening your understanding and relationship with the food you eat.
What you will need:
Straining bag
Funnel
Milk bottle
NutriBullet or any other strong blender
1. The night before you would like the mylk, pop your almonds into a glass and soak them with water, then put in the fridge overnight.
2. The next day, get all your ingredients and kitchen bits together. Pour the soaking water away. This is likely to be a brown colour, which is residue from the skins. The nuts will now look a little plump. Give the almonds a good rinse, drain and place into the blender cup.
3. Sweeten to your taste. I like just an echo of sweetness from a single tsp of maple syrup — runny honey works well, too. My favourite sweetener is a single Medjool date, don’t forget to pit them if you go for a date or two.
4. Add a dash of vanilla extract and a pinch of salt to balance the flavour. Pour in the water and blitz for 1–2 minutes.
5. You’ll now have a frothy, delicious, but bitty milk. Place the straining bag in the funnel and the funnel in the neck of your milk bottle, pour the mylk slowly into the bag.
As the mylk drips through to the bottle, you can lift the bag from the funnel and start to squeeze the bag, massaging the mylk out of the nut pulp. This is the most hands-on part and where the real ‘milking’ takes place. Squeeze all the liquid out of the pulp, as much as you can. You should now be left with a bottle of nut mylk and a chalky pulp.
Note: You may wish to leave the mylk to chill before using. Enjoy within three days.
The pulp is a great addition to brownies and other bakes, replacing flour, adding moisture and richness; equally, the pulp can act as a thickener in curries and casseroles or even as a body scrub. It’s protein rich and filled with nourishing fats so seems a shame to let it go to waste.
By Sara Scobie
Written for Curate Magazine Issue 5: Process
