Almond Milk

Almond Milk is one of the staple ingredients found in many of the recipes of the Middle Ages & Renaissance. Many recipes indicate that the almond milk should be made using the liquid left over from cooking another ingredient(s) in the dish. This will infuse more flavors into your almond milk.

Almond milk is obtained by steeping ground almonds in hot water or other hot liquid, then straining out the almonds, so that the ‘milk’ is thick an smooth, not gritty. You can save the strained out almonds for use in other recipes, such as ‘Emeles’ or use them to draw up a second thinner almond milk. If ground almonds are not available, soak whole or slivered blanched almonds in a blender jar in cold water to cover, then grind and blend with the water or broth your recipe calls for. Let this steep for a while, then blend again before straining.

Almond milk was either wrung through a clean cloth or forced through a fine strainer. If your almonds are very finely ground, a good choice is the kind of strainer sold for draining yogurt, but if you line a fine mesh strainer with a large double layer of cheesecloth you can both rub the mixture through with the back of a spoon and wring out the residue in the cheesecloth. If time allows, first leave the trainer and contents in the refrigerator to drain for several hours or overnight; but then you must rub through and/or wring: the thicker the milk is, the better. The more almonds you use in proportion to water, the smoother, tastier, creamier ( and more expensive) your milk will be, an ideal proportion is something like 2 ounces of ground almonds to 1/2 cup water.

Substitute the same quanity of the cooking liquid for the quanity of water below.

My Interpretation:

Bring water to a boil. Grind almonds in blender with hot water in 3 or 4 small batches. Using a cheesecloth, squeeze the almond milk from the processed almonds. Yields about 1½ cups of almond milk.

Notes:

Caution should be used when using hot water in a blender. Only about a cups worth of almonds and hot liquid should be in a 4 cup capacity blender pitcher.