Macadamia Nut Milk
Milk. It's one of those "staple items" that most of us buy, eat and drink on a regular basis. As you all know, this blog contains only vegan recipes, however I don't personally follow a strict vegan diet. I do however, use mainly nut milk as opposed to dairy milk, for the most part in my day to day life. The exception to this would be the odd latte, or splash of dairy milk in my cup of tea. For smoothies, I always use a nut milk - either store bought or homemade.
There are so many benefits from using nut milk as an alternative to cows milk (provided you don't have a nut allergy) and I highly recommend you give it a go. Nut milks, for the most part are generally lower in fat, in particular, saturated fat that regular milk and they contain endless amounts of vitamins and minerals.
We hear so often that you need dairy milk to get calcium, but nuts are also very high in the mineral and most carry other nutritional factors in abundance also e.g. fiber, fats, selenium, iron, magnesium, folate, zinc, vitamins B, D and A - the list goes on.
What is excellent about nut milk, is that it is lactose free - therefore it is suitable for people with an intolerance to lactose (about 60% of human beings in the western world are sensitive to lactose). The protein casein is found in animal milk and cows milk has a high casein to whey ratio - making it something that our bodies struggle to break down and digest. Nut milks are naturally casein free.
My go-to nut milk would normally be almond milk, however a relative I recently visited had a macadamia nut tree, so I used some of the nuts I collected and shelled - to make this gorgeous, creamy and decadent nut milk. It is higher in fat that almond milk but you can use this recipe with any nut you like - I have found that I generally don't need to alter the liquid based on the type of nut.
I prefer my nutmilks unsweetened or flavoured, so that I can use them for lots of different things, however a spiced and sweetened nutmilk is glorious for a smoothie, or coffee so I will include a sweetening option in the recipe.
Enjoy!
1 cup of raw, shelled Macadamia nuts (soaked in water overnight, then drained)
1.2L of filtered water
Place in a blender, on hig speed until the water has a 'milk-like' appearance.
Place a muslin cloth in a seive and drain the liquid in to a clean jug or bowl. When all the liquid has separated from the mulch, squeeze the clothe gently in a ball to get the extra milk.
The milk will be somewhere between whole and semi-skimmed milk consistency, if you prefer it creamier or less, adjust the amount of water you add to suit.
Note: For sugar and spice, add 2 medjool dates and 1/4 tsp of cinnamon to the nuts and water before you blend.
This will keep (in a sealed container or bottle) in the fridge for about 3-4 days. Because it is unprocessed, you will need to gently shake the milk before you use it, as the water and nuts may separate.
K x
