The Whole Almond

I decided to make some almond milk about halfway through our Whole 30.  A friend sent me an article about the best non-dairy latte, and it was made with house made almond milk, sweetened with dates and macadamia nut milk.  So, I made some of each.  I bought raw nuts at the bulk section of my natural foods market.  I soaked each of them for a few hours, in the refrigerator, and then drained them.  I dumped all the nuts into my vitamix with twice the amount of water.  I used 1 cup of nuts for each, so I used 2 cups of water each.  I let it run on high for about a minute.  I poured into a nut milk bag, and squeezed all of the liquid, the milk, out.

I didn’t add any sweetner.  I also did not remove the skins from the almonds.  More on this later.  I chilled in the fridge before I tried them.  They were both delicious, tasting distinctly different, as do the nuts.  The almond milk was delicious, so sweet with a slight cherry flavor.  It did, however, finish a bit bitter.  The skins.  Yes, of course.  We removed all of the skins for the second try.  After soaking them, blanch them in boiling water for about 1-2 mins.  The skins pop right off!

 almond skins

I added a bit more water this batch, and I wish I hadn’t.  It’s thicker, creamier and better with a  2:1 ratio, water to nuts.  You end up with 2 cups of delicious milk.  

The remains in the bag, the almond meat, is not trash!  So, I spread the crumbly mixture on a baking pan, and I let it sit in the oven for a few days until it was dry.  I should have turned on the light and I bet they’d dry faster.  When they were totally dry, I toasted them in the toaster over briefly.  I then put it back in the food processor and ground it to a powder.  Almond meal (or almond-hazelnut meal). 

nut meat, the aftermath of milking

I used the toasty goodness as a topping for two individual sized apple crisps that I made for my birthday.  I mixed in some walnuts, ghee, cinnamon, salt, lemon rind and a teaspoon of date paste (homemade and frozen).  I put on top of seasoned sliced apples and baked for a delicious treat!

apple crisp birthday treat complete with fancy tea light

With the rest of it, we added nutritional yeast.  It’s a delicious, crunchy, nutty, cheesy flavored punch of fiber that can be added to anything, like breadcrumbs.  I just used it to season pumpkin seeds from a pumpkin I roasted.  They are so delicious, I can’t stop eating them.  It satisfies that cracker crunch that I miss.

My guess is that this mixture could also be used to coat shrimp, chicken, zucchini or mushrooms and then baked with delicious results.  Could probably also use in meatballs, etc.

Such a cool way to use the whole almond, especially while doing Whole 30, or following a paleo diet.