Food recipes
OPTIONAL SWEETENERS
OPTIONAL SWEETENERS
Ingredients:
1 teaspoon ground vanilla beans
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
1 Medjool date, pit removed
1 tablespoon maple syrup
1 tablespoon raw honey
Directions:
1. Soak the nuts overnight. I like to use a 32-ounce (960 ml) mason jar for this, with
regular tap water. It doesn’t have to be a particular temperature. Place the nuts in
the jar and then add enough water to cover them, plus an extra inch or two. The
nuts will expand slightly during the soaking process. In the morning, drain and
rinse the nuts well.
2. Add the nuts to a high-powered blender with 3½ cups (840 ml) of fresh water (see
Notes below). Blend for 2 minutes. I use my Vitamix, starting out at a slow speed
before working my way up to a higher one.
3. Set a fine-mesh strainer on top of a large bowl. Place a high-quality cheesecloth on
top of the strainer, or use a nut milk bag instead.
4. Pour the contents of the blender into the cheesecloth or nut milk bag. At this point,
I like to walk away and let gravity do most of the work on its own. It should take
about 5 minutes or so for most of the liquid to end up in the bowl.
5. Gather the cheesecloth or nut milk bag in your hands and gently squeeze it. You’ll
start to see a lot of liquid come out. Keep squeezing until you feel that all the liquid
is gone. It can be quite the hand workout!
6. Add an optional sweetener, if desired, and then blend again for another 2 minutes.
7. Dump the excess pulp onto a parchment-lined baking sheet. It will be wet and
clumpy. I use my fingers to break it up and spread it out on the baking sheet so that
it dries out easily. Please don’t throw it away—there are an incredible number of
uses for pulp, which we’ll explore later (see How to Use Nut Pulp).
8. Use a funnel to pour the nut milk into a glass storage jar, and store it in the
refrigerator for 3 to 4 days, or in the freezer for up to 2 months.
NOTES
If you decide to add a sweetener or two to this recipe, start with ground vanilla
beans, which make things taste sweeter without raising the actual sugar content. Be
sure to strain the milk before adding the sweetener. If you add the sweetener too
early in the process, some of it will get caught in the cheesecloth, especially dates.
I add the dates once I have strained the mixture, and then I blend everything again
for another 2 minutes to make sure the ingredients are completely mixed. Note that
if you use vanilla extract, you might be able to slightly taste the alcohol, since this
recipe isn’t cooked.
As you start playing around with the types of nuts you use, you’ll notice that not all
of them need to be strained after they’re blended. Some, such as cashews and
pistachios, create a very fine powder that goes straight through the cheesecloth. For
those, I simply blend, pour, chill, and serve.
Don’t be shocked when you take your milk out of the refrigerator and find that it’s
separated. Just give it a good shake to mix it up again. Homemade nut milk doesn’t
Ingredients:
1 teaspoon ground vanilla beans
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
1 Medjool date, pit removed
1 tablespoon maple syrup
1 tablespoon raw honey
Directions:
1. Soak the nuts overnight. I like to use a 32-ounce (960 ml) mason jar for this, with
regular tap water. It doesn’t have to be a particular temperature. Place the nuts in
the jar and then add enough water to cover them, plus an extra inch or two. The
nuts will expand slightly during the soaking process. In the morning, drain and
rinse the nuts well.
2. Add the nuts to a high-powered blender with 3½ cups (840 ml) of fresh water (see
Notes below). Blend for 2 minutes. I use my Vitamix, starting out at a slow speed
before working my way up to a higher one.
3. Set a fine-mesh strainer on top of a large bowl. Place a high-quality cheesecloth on
top of the strainer, or use a nut milk bag instead.
4. Pour the contents of the blender into the cheesecloth or nut milk bag. At this point,
I like to walk away and let gravity do most of the work on its own. It should take
about 5 minutes or so for most of the liquid to end up in the bowl.
5. Gather the cheesecloth or nut milk bag in your hands and gently squeeze it. You’ll
start to see a lot of liquid come out. Keep squeezing until you feel that all the liquid
is gone. It can be quite the hand workout!
6. Add an optional sweetener, if desired, and then blend again for another 2 minutes.
7. Dump the excess pulp onto a parchment-lined baking sheet. It will be wet and
clumpy. I use my fingers to break it up and spread it out on the baking sheet so that
it dries out easily. Please don’t throw it away—there are an incredible number of
uses for pulp, which we’ll explore later (see How to Use Nut Pulp).
8. Use a funnel to pour the nut milk into a glass storage jar, and store it in the
refrigerator for 3 to 4 days, or in the freezer for up to 2 months.
NOTES
If you decide to add a sweetener or two to this recipe, start with ground vanilla
beans, which make things taste sweeter without raising the actual sugar content. Be
sure to strain the milk before adding the sweetener. If you add the sweetener too
early in the process, some of it will get caught in the cheesecloth, especially dates.
I add the dates once I have strained the mixture, and then I blend everything again
for another 2 minutes to make sure the ingredients are completely mixed. Note that
if you use vanilla extract, you might be able to slightly taste the alcohol, since this
recipe isn’t cooked.
As you start playing around with the types of nuts you use, you’ll notice that not all
of them need to be strained after they’re blended. Some, such as cashews and
pistachios, create a very fine powder that goes straight through the cheesecloth. For
those, I simply blend, pour, chill, and serve.
Don’t be shocked when you take your milk out of the refrigerator and find that it’s
separated. Just give it a good shake to mix it up again. Homemade nut milk doesn’t
Printed from https://recipe.bluelayer.org/recipe/66102/optional-sweeteners