MacGyver-ing your nut milk

You guys remember MacGyver, right?  He could build a skyscraper with a toothpick, a rubber band and a few paper clips.  Well, I’m using the same “use what you got” concept when making nut milk.

So, this is how I MacGyver it (yes, he’s a verb too), no special nut bag, no special anything really.  Just the humble equipment you see below and a BLENDER.

The Breakdown of EVERY detail in this process:

What you need:

Blender

Big vessel (I used a flower vase) and a cover (I used parchment paper and a rubber band)

2 cup measuring cup or bigger

fine sieve/strainer

bandana (or handkerchief or cloth napkin)

a  fork or spoon

Water

1 cup almonds (or cashews or Brazilian nuts or whatever nut you choose)

Pinch of  sea salt (or whatever you have)

Vanilla, cinnamon (or other things you’d like to flavor your milk with)

1. In the big vessel add 1 cup of almonds and 3 cups of clean water.

2.  Go to sleep or wait 8 hours.

3. Next, rinse your almonds in sieve and dump them in a blender.

4.  Add 3 cups water in blender, a pinch of sea salt and BLEND.

6.  Blend until it’s blend-y, no chunks, looks semi-oatmeal-ish.  Probably a bit over 1 minute.

7.  Now, place your sieve on top of big vessel and grab a fork or spoon.

8.  At the same time, grab measuring cup and place a handkerchief over the top, should dip a bit over the opening but doesn’t touch the bottom of the cup.

9.  Pour from blender into sieve, use the fork or spoon to stir in the sieve to help the milk flow.  When it slows to a trickle, dump the pulp from the sieve into the cloth over the cup.

10.  Continue this little dance – pour, stir, dump, pour, stir, dump – until the blender is empty.

11.  Now gather the corners of your cloth and squeeze the liquid from the pulp into the cup.  This gets milk on your hands, but all the pulp stays in the cloth – if you’ve got pulp coming through when you squeeze, you need a finer cloth.  I tend to use a cow milking motion for this but I think wringing, or toothpaste squeezing type motions would also work.

12.  Pour liquid from cup into big vessel, stick in a cinnamon stick or maybe a drop of vanilla, you’ll need to suit your tastes here.

13.  Cover (I used parchment paper and a rubber band) and put in fridge and let it chill for an hour.

14.  Enjoy your homemade nut milk.

Good for 3-4 days.