Freshly Nutty
The first time I made almond milk was eight years ago. It was relatively easy, and satisfying to make, but it tasted like chalk. It hadn’t occurred to me that my almonds were stale. The maddening thing was, they had been organic almonds purchased, in bulk, at my local health food store.
From then on, I decided to buy only sealed packages of nuts. They were so superior to what I had been eating in the past, organic or otherwise, that I vowed to never buy anything else again. The maddening thing was, they were packaged in ridiculously small amounts, with a ridiculous price tag attached.
I discovered very quickly that most people, like me, were buying and eating rancid nuts, and didn’t even know it. I’m assuming they didn’t know it, because they were serving them to their guest (me). When I introduced one or two of my friends to my preferred brand, they were absolutely shocked at the difference in taste and texture. The maddening thing (for them) was that they had never been told to store their nuts in the fridge.
Of course, refrigerating your nuts is pointless if they’re not fresh to begin with. You can buy sealed packages, if you can handle the price; or you can take your chances at the bulk store – just taste them first. In both cases, the nuts usually are displayed on the shelf. Take them home and refrigerate them, even if the package is unopened.
Some stores bag their own nuts (so to speak), with some cost savings to you, and they should label the date that this was done. This is the happy medium: sealed packages, at a reasonable price. These packages should be displayed in the store fridge. Take them home and keep them refrigerated.
But I digest.
I haven’t made almond milk a second time. Organic almonds are simply too valuable to be used for experimentation; I save them for my other favourite recipes. And besides, if I really want almond milk, the store-bought brands are quite good (even though most of them contain some sugar).
Well, yesterday we ran out of goat’s milk, and I had a surplus of brazil nuts, so I made brazil nut milk. We all agreed: If this is what nut milks taste like, then we could go raw tomorrow.
The maddening thing is, it’s a bit of a procedure. It’s not the soaking – I’m used to that now. It’s the straining and squeezing, and then blending with the other ingredients. How long did it take me? More than five minutes, less than ten. Not long for your average raw foodie, who, demographically, is thirty-something, unmarried and childless. But for a busy mummy with three young kids. . .? It almost can’t be done.
While goat’s milk is expensive, I can pour it from a jar.
We will be raw some day. It will happen. But it’s going to be a very hard transition, and a very long one.
