Almond Milk

It was a big surprise to me when I learned how easy it was to make good almond milk. Making your own has the advantages of being much cheaper and free of added preservatives and other ickys.

• 10-20 almonds
• (optional) 1 date
• 1 liter water

1. It's best to soak the almonds overnight as this makes them more digestible, but you don't have to. To soak, simply put them in a bowl with clean water on the counter overnight. In the morning, rinse them off and then store any that you're not going to use right away in the fridge. I like to soak 1-2 cups at a time so I have plenty ready to use.
2. Fill your vessel with water, about 90% full. Then dump this water into your blender. The reason we leave 10% is because when you add the almonds and blend, the mixture froths up a bit and takes a little more space.
3. Put almonds and optional date (remember to take the pit out!) into the water. The date makes it a little sweet, which some people like (most almond milks you buy are a little sweet). You really only need about 10 almonds for a liter of water to get a nice solid white color and decent consistency. I like to go for 15 or so for a thicker consistency. 
4. Blend the heck out of it. A good blender such as this one is helpful here, but most blenders will probably do fine so long as you're patient. I blend for about 5 minutes.

You're done -- it's that easy!

Since your homemade almond milk is all-natural, the solids may separate out a bit after it sits for a while. You can just shake it before you use it. Or, if this bothers you, try using fewer almonds or blending for longer.

You can also use the same process for making sesame or hempseed milk.

Update: You can also fortify your homemade almond milk by throwing in a vitamin B12 pill! Yeah.