I have been obsessed with almond milk ever since I discovered Lulu in Beijing. Sold at every market here for 7 yuan a liter, this boxed almond milk has been my new alternative to chamomile for a soothing right-before-bed drink. I also have it at breakfast mixed with green tea, or at dinner whenever my fridge has out of soju or vodka or anything to mix a drink with. Lulu is fine cold, but so delicious when warm that I can unconciously go through a whole box in one sitting.
So naturally I had to make my own. Store-bought Lulu may be addictive, but the homemade version is so transcendent that it makes me forget the 3 or 4 times I had to strain every batch because the mesh in my colander isn’t fine enough. But c’est la vie. If you have a very fine-mesh colander to strain out the minute particles of puréed almond, making this will be a breeze.
The results of this first homemade trial were either sipped straight, or heated to go with warm honey and bananas (recipe below). Some other ways to use homemade almond milk:
- In coffee in place of milk/cream
- Stirred with green, black, or barley tea
- Baked into cookies in place of, or in addition to, vanilla extract
I got the bananas and honey idea from Food & Wine, but the instructions on making the almond milk itself come from an Australian food site. The author says he adapted the recipe from the 14th century tome Le Vandier de Taillevent. Taillevent! Folks, you’ll be drinking a piece of gastronomical history here.
Homemade Almond Milk with Bananas and Honey
Adapted from cuisine.com.au and Food & Wine
Serves 2, with plenty of milk left over for your sipping pleasure
1 cup raw-skinned almonds
2 cups water
1 1/2 to 2 tablespoons honey
2 medium-sized bananas, sliced 1/2 inch thick
Special equipment: Blender, very fine sieve or cheese cloth (If your sieve is not fine enough, you may have to pass the mixture through 3 or 4 times, like I did. A little texture is fine, a lot is
just plain annoying.)
Bring the water to the boil, then remove from heat. Pour over the almonds and leave to stand for five minutes, or a few hours or overnight for a richer milk.
Place mixture in a blender and puree until silky smooth. Pass through a very fine-mesh sieve or cheese cloth and discard solids.
In a small nonstick skillet, warm the honey. Add the bananas, and cook over moderate heat, stirring, for 2 minutes. Scape the mixture into small bowls or teacups and pour in warm almond milk. Serve immediately, with spoons of course.
Almond milk can be stored in the fridge, covered, for up to 3 days.
Never had almond milk but it sounds very soothing. It looks delicious!
Interesting. I had no idea a nut could make a milk. Sounds pretty good though.
Never tried that but I’ll dofor sure!!!
i really like this almond milk! tried it once and i love it. going to make it for the 2nd time nw! i’m glad i found ur site! =) cheers
I always loved almond milk, and my mom always made soy milk at home that tastes 100 times better than the store bought stuff. Now I can’t wait till the weekend to try making my almond milk. And also your Almond Milk with Bananas and Honey recipe… I can see myself falling in love with this… thanks!
I stumbled on this page when I was searching how to make almond milk. I just tried to mix almond milk with banana and honey this morning, and it tasted great. Thanks for the sharing this idea!
OK, so this looks amazing, and I’m so excited to try it this afternoon. Thanks a million for the great technique!
I would imagine that you don’t have to throw away the almond solids. I’m thinking you could spread them out, let them dry and use them as you would almond meal in baked goods! Yum!
What else could it be made with other than bananas? Not a huge fan of them…
I made my first batch of almond milk this morning. It’s so easy to do but my sieve just isn’t fine enough so I was ‘eating’ the milk rather than drinking it. I found some cheesecloth in the back of my pantry so I will be using that in future.
It’s well worth the effort. It’s a beautiful drink.
Soaked my almonds yesterday. Can’t wait to make it tonite!
Taste even better with crushed ice. Perfect for summer.
can we make it and freeze it?
I love almond milk and I can’t wait to try making my own!
Wow! Now this looks absolutely delicious and mouth watering! I’ll have to give it a shot this weekend :-) Looks like it is well worth the affort.
I personally like milk and bananas ever since I tried it out with cereal. This meal sounds delicious though so I would love to try it out for breakfast.
Just recently switched to Almond milk from Soy…Can’t wait to make my own! Adding bananas and honey to it mmmm tasty!
I’m looking forward to making this! Sounds wonderful for breakfast. But what are raw-skinned almonds?
I usually don’t like the taste of bananas but they were great with this almond milk recipe. Thanks!