When I switched to an almost vegan diet a couple of years ago, I started experimenting with Almond, Soy and Hemp milk naively thinking that it was a good protein source. Lately though, I’ve switched to making almond milk at home instead. Short answer is that the ingredients on most almond milk brands is pretty sucky (examples are Vitamin A palmitate which is a synthetic vitamin, Carrageenan which is a dubious, possibly carcinogenic, thickening agent). And for the protein source, it’s 1% or less. A quick search on almond nutrition tells me whole almonds (1 cup or 143g) have around 30g of protein. So you are mostly buying filtered water! As a friend put it, you are better of eating a cup of almonds and drinking a glass or two of water. Turns out making almond milk at home is super easy and incredibly delicious.

Making Almond Milk

What I also didn’t know is that raw almonds you buy in stores are not exactly raw. Effective September 2007, the USDA has ordered all almond growers to “sterilize” almonds in one of several ways. Luckily the local farmer’s market sells unpasteurized almonds. And Amazon sells raw unpasteurized almonds too. If you have a Vitamix, then making almond milk just got a whole lot easier.

Cover 1 cup of raw unpasteurized almonds with water and soak them overnight. Drain the water, dunk the almonds into the Vitamix with 3½ cups of water, 1tsp of Vanilla Extract and 1tbsp of Agave Nectar. Slowly crank up the variable speed dial to the max over a period of two minutes and then blend on High for another minute. I’ve tried with and without the sediment and prefer to leave it unfiltered. YMMV. Serve chilled and it stays fresh in the fridge for 3-4 days.

Have you tried making almond milk at home?