It’s Almond Milk-Monday!

Several people have asked me how I make almond milk. May I introduce the Sanlinx SoyaJoy. Yes, I know you can blend soaked almonds and water in your blender and then strain them through a dishcloth but I am Gadget Girl, daughter of Appliance Lady, so that is just not how I roll. If someone invented an appliance to do, make or clean something… Mom had to have it! She bought this for me years ago when I drank soy milk and I recently discovered that it does a great job of making nut milks.

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Why would you make your own?

Because as much as I love Almond Breeze, especially the chocolate, I prefer to keep things fresher, cheaper and simpler. Mine contains almonds and water, theirs contains:

INGREDIENTS: ALMONDMILK (FILTERED WATER, ALMONDS), EVAPORATED CANE JUICE, CALCIUM CARBONATE, SEA SALT, POTASSIUM CITRATE, CARRAGEENAN, SUNFLOWER LECITHIN, VITAMIN A PALMITATE, VITAMIN D2, D-ALPHA-TOCOPHEROL (NATURAL VITAMIN E).

Why so many ingredients? mostly to make it sweet, creamy and milk-like. If you really need that milk-like texture, then I suggest using theirs when you want to drink it plain but the rest of the time, save money by using home-made for chocolate milk, smoothies, baked goods, anything where the milk is an ingredient rather than the end product.

How do you make almond milk in the SoyaJoy?

Soymilk needs to be cooked so the machine contains a heating element. The default program is set for a 15 minute cooking and grinding cycle. Cooking is unnecessary with nut milks so all  you need to do is fill the pitcher up to the space between the lines, put the machine head unit into the pitcher, plug the machine unit in, then looking at the top of the machine head, press the motor button 3 times, and then the start button. Now pour your almonds (soaked or unsoaked, I haven’t found that it makes much difference) into the feed-slot on the top of the head. That is it. When it has finished its grinding cycle (in about 5 minutes), you unplug it, lift out the machine head and pour your milk into jars. The strainer cup contains all the ground almond pulp. Sanlinx has recipes using soymilk, nutmilk, and the leftover pulp here. Google to find thousands of recipes that use almond pulp for shortbread, banana bread, even facial scrubs. If you do use it to make soymilk, you can make your own tofu really easily. Scott and I used to make tofu every week. Hmm, maybe I’ll make some this week. It was so good homemade. Amazon carries a new model which looks super.

Do you drink non-dairy milks? If so, do you make your own?