My biggest gripe about the rising trend in alternative "milk" beverages are all the fillers that are in an 8 oz glass of it. Take a look at the fillers in these almond milk brands:
Silk: Natural Flavor, Locust Bean Gum, Sunflower Lecithin, Gellan Gum. Calcium Carbonate, Vitamin E Acetate, Zinc Gluconate, Vitamin A Palmitate, Riboflavin (B2), Vitamin B12, Vitamin D2
What the hell is "natural flavor" as its own ingredient??
Blue Diamond: Evaporated Cane Juice, Calcium Carbonate, Sea Salt, Potassium Citrate, Carrageenan, Sunflower Lecithin, Vitamin A Palmitate, Vitamin D2, D-Alpha-Tocopherol (Natural Vitamin E)
So Delicious: Dried Cane Syrup, Pea Protein, Rice Protein, Calcium Phosphate, Magnesium Phosphate, Carrageenan, Natural Flavor, Locust Bean Gum, Kosher Sea Salt, Vitamin A Palmitate, Vitamin D-2, L-Selenomethionine (Selenium), Zinc Oxide, Folic Acid, Vitamin B-12
Protein powder?? WTF!
Pacific Almond: Dried Cane Syrup, Potassium Citrate, Sea Salt, Carrageenan, Riboflavin (B2), Vitamin A Palmitate, Vitamin D2
Trader Joe's: Tricalcium Phosphate, Sea Salt, Gellan Gum, Dipotassium Phosphate, Xanthan Gum, Natural Flavors, Sunflower Lecithin, Vitamin A Palmitate, Vitamin D2, Dl-Alpha Tocopherol Acetate (Vitamin E)
Hands down, if you can handle cow's milk, it is the only way to go for ice cream, milk shakes, pudding, cheese, etc. When you look at the packing for organic milk, it has one ingredient: organic milk. No fillers, nada. Just juice squeezed out of cow udders. Anyhow, I think I'm going to post a homemade almond milk recipe now.
Homemade Almond Milk
Lightly sweetened with Mejool dates. No fillers! The almond flour does not have to be blanched. If you do use blanched, the resulting milk will likely look whiter. This does not affect the taste. Also, pitted or not, two Mejool dates weighed out to be 1.25 oz. Yes, I measured it before and after removing the pits. The caloric intake is less than the ingredients used since both the dates and almond flour are filtered out. There is a slight tart taste to it which I suspect is from the date pith.
Makes: 1 quart + 1 cup
Ingredients
1 c (230 grams) almond flour
2 Mejool dates, pitted
1 tsp vanilla extract
pinch of sea salt
5 c filtered water
Directions
1. In the bowl of a 7-cup food processor, pulse together almond flour, vanilla extract, sea salt, and dates.
2. While the processor is running, gradually add water. Let this run for 2-3 minutes.
3. Pour almond milk into a cheesecloth-lined sieve set over a large 5-quart bowl. Let drain. When there is about 1 cup left in the cheesecloth, gather the edges of the cloth together and gently squeeze into the bowl.. kind of like squeezing a cow udder, except you don't want to squeeze so hard that the cheesecloth breaks.
4. Store in a clean glass jar and refrigerate.
Cost-wise, excluding labor and time, does this recipe break even with an average $2/qt store-bought brand? That will be for a kitchen notes post.
