Vegan mylk

Making your own organic vegan mylk is so easy and so delicious! Whats more you know there’s nothing but the wholesome ingredients you put in, and no heat treatments (like used for supermarket varieties) which might reduce the goodness of your raw ingredients. Making your own mylk also provides you with a nutritious, gluten free by-product – Wholemeal Flour! – which you can then use in baking…

Here’s how you do it:

1 litre Organic Vegan Mylk

Ingredients

1 cup raw, organic nuts (see Method for recommendations)

1 organic date

1 tsp salt flakes

Approx 4 cups filtered water

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Equipment

Measuring cup and teaspoon

Jug blender able to finely blend nuts without blowing up

1 litre glass storage jug, or two 500ml jugs

1 large glass jug for straining into (a wide-ish mouth makes it easier to pour and strain into)

Nut mylk straining bag – Buy an organic cotton bag from A Fine Choice, or try Rawsome Creations’ “more than a Nut Milk Bag”

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Method

1. Measure 1 cup of raw nuts or a combination of several kinds of nuts, seeds, grains and/or a sprinkling of desiccated coconut. Purists can go for a cup of almonds, a cup of cashews or a cup of Brazil nuts, or mix up your recipe by combining with chia, oats, rice, hemp seeds… or any combination. Just pack a cup! My personal favourite is 1/3 cup almonds, 1/3 cup cashews and 1/3 cup desiccated coconut.It’s nutty but without an overpowering almond taste and smell, creamy because of the richness of the cashews and a hint of coconut makes it a little sweet…
2. Soak those nuts overnight. Put them in a glass container, cover with approx 1 cup of filtered water and leave them in the fridge. This activates, softens and plumps them up.
3. In the morning, drain off the water and discard.
4. Put the nuts into a blender with approx 1 cup of filtered water.
5. Add the date for sweetness and the salt for balance. (You don’t have to if you don’t want to, but I think it makes a sublime taste difference…)
6. 

   Pour the blended ingredients into a wide mouthed jug lined with a nut mylk strainer

   Blend until very smooth. Give it a full 30 seconds and then pause for the bits to settle, then another 30 seconds.

7. Place nut mylk straining bag in glass jug for straining, and open it out securely over the rim.
8. Pour blended nut mixture into bag in jug
9. Make sure the bag isn’t sitting in the liquid as it drips through… I tie mine to the handle and leave gravity to pull it through for half an hour or so.
10. Gently squeeze bag to ensure all the liquid is out.
11. Sometimes – if I’m feeling impatient – I sit the straining bag between two small metal strainers and compress… though squeezing out the liquid by hand is more satisfying if you have time.
12. 

    Allow the mylk to drop through into the jug, leaving the pulp in the straining bag

    When you are done you will have about a cup of pulverized nuts left in the straining bag. Don’t throw it away!!! – follow my recipe to make super-easy gluten free wholemeal flour here. But before you do that…

13. Pour the strained mylk into your glass storage jug(s). There will be less than a litre as you haven’t finished adding all the water yet.
14. Taste your mylk – it should be quite thick and creamy.
15. Top up your jug(s) with approx 2 cups of filtered water to make 1 litre of delicious MYLK. You can add less or more water to suit your taste, but as a rough guide, I suggest a cup of nuts makes a litre of good “milky” mylk.
16. Store your mylk in the fridge. It will separate when stored, just stir lightly with a spoon before using. Mylk can be used in hot and cold drinks, on cereal or anywhere you would normally use milk or store bought mylk. Best used within 48 hours.