A trick to make homemade almond milk more like store bought

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amusedmonkey
amusedmonkey Posts: 10,330 Member
in Recipes
Homemade almond milk is usually watery and lacks the viscosity of store-bought milk which has various starches and gelling products added. To give it that thickness, simply take half of the milk, scald it (near boil it) and add it back to the other half and viola!

If you heat up the whole quantity it becomes thick like cream when it cools down, and may not be suitable for certain applications. That's why you do only half.

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  • bhdon
    bhdon Posts: 117 Member
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    Thanks for the tip. I sometimes add 1 tsp of arrowroot powder when I blend the almonds and water. This too, helps make it 'creamier'. Sometimes I add a pitted date while blending if I want it a little sweeter.
  • socajam
    socajam Posts: 2,530 Member
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    Homemade almond milk is way better than better than store almond milk. Store bought with Carrageenan and other chemicals. Home made: water and almonds.
    My homemade almond milk is never water.
  • NoStoppingNow77
    NoStoppingNow77 Posts: 38 Member
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    I just made my first batch two days ago. Thanks for the tip! I used the leftover almond meal to make cookies today. I was amazed how easy the milk was to make.
  • mockchoc
    mockchoc Posts: 6,573 Member
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    socajam wrote: »
    Homemade almond milk is way better than better than store almond milk. Store bought with Carrageenan and other chemicals. Home made: water and almonds.
    My homemade almond milk is never water.

    Carrageenan is a type of seaweed.

  • lynn1982
    lynn1982 Posts: 1,439 Member
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    Interesting. Mine has never been watery. And it always tastes far superior to store bought. Maybe you're using too much water...
  • amusedmonkey
    amusedmonkey Posts: 10,330 Member
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    lynn1982 wrote: »
    Interesting. Mine has never been watery. And it always tastes far superior to store bought. Maybe you're using too much water...

    No, it's just that it lacks that creaminess and thickness of store-bought since it does not have natural starches. I agree that it tastes superior, though. Would be interesting to use the thickened almond milk like "cream" on strawberries and such. I have to try that.
  • bhdon
    bhdon Posts: 117 Member
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    mockchoc wrote: »
    socajam wrote: »
    Homemade almond milk is way better than better than store almond milk. Store bought with Carrageenan and other chemicals. Home made: water and almonds.
    My homemade almond milk is never water.

    Carrageenan is a type of seaweed.

    Some folks are sensitive to carrageenan ( an ingredient of some store bought almond milks). And there is some research that questions it's safety. Here's one article - there are others on the internet discussing the safety of it's use :
    - http://www.prevention.com/food/healthy-eating-tips/carrageenan-natural-ingredient-you-should-ban-your-diet Just because it's in print, doesn't make it so. But it's something folks may want to consider.
  • BWBTrish
    BWBTrish Posts: 2,817 Member
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    besides making cookies of the left over almond meal...you can still use it to make almond butter :) Delicious too!

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