Make your own nut milk!

I've been reading up a bit more on healthy living/ healthy eating, and recently discovered the benefits of drinking nut milk. Nut milk is available on the market (perhaps less easily found in Singapore though), but some claim that commercially available nut milk contain dubious additives, and so health-conscious foodies/ moms have began making their own!

After watching a couple of videos online, I've realised that it's really not that difficult to make your own nut milk. You just need to do some advance preps (soak the nuts overnight - you can read more about the benefits of doing so here), get a powerful blender, and in the Singapore context, buy a coffee-making 'kopi sock' to strain and squeeze out the nut milk after blending.

[NB: I believe these kopi socks can be found quite easily at local neighbourhood homeware shops (I got mine at Haig Road). My neighbourhood Econ minimart also sells them! Try to get a bigger one so that you can make more milk at one go]

I stumbled upon nut milk-making somewhat accidentally. Was originally looking around for cow-milk substitutes for baking in an organic supermarket - and bought a packet of organic ricemilk to try. Though it may be free of soy/gluten/lactose/ dairy and enriched with various vitamins/ minerals, it really tasted pretty bland and so I continued to look around for other alternatives.

I eventually came across a food blogger's demo video about making nut milk, and since it seemed simple enough, decided to make my own. I used almonds the first time; and a mixture of almonds and hazelnuts the second try when my sister came over for a baking bonding session. On its own, it may still taste slightly bland to some, but when blended with dates/ honey the taste improves significantly. Since I'm a hopeless sweet tooth, of course I took to the naturally sweetened version better :) 

If you're feeling motivated now, try making some on your own!

You can probably find several recipes online, but here's my version:

1 cup nuts of your choice 

2.5 cups water (Add less water for a creamier milk, but be reminded that this will yield less nut milk) 

1 kopi sock (or some say, a clean pantyhose, if that works for you)

1 Medjool date (for sweetening) 

After soaking the nuts overnight, place them in the blender and add water (I added boiled, rather than tapwater at room temperature. For instantly chilled milk, you can chill your water beforehand too!).

Blend mixture, and pour into sock (with a jug/ bowl underneath) to strain away the grounded nuts.

Let the milk flow out on its own first, then squeeze the sock (literally as if you're milking) to extract as much nut milk as possible from the blended nut/milk mixture.

If you're sweetening it - rinse the blender, pour the strained nut milk back in and blend entire mixture with the dates or honey. If drinking unsweetened, the milk is ready to drink!

Have fun experimenting!

Milk your nuts!