DIY Cashew Milk

Have you ever read the back of an Almond Breeze carton? I had always been a fan of their “unsweetened vanilla” almond milk that came in a tetra pack, thinking I was doing the right thing. Well - yikes! There are a few ingredients I definitely can’t pronounce, not to mention the shelf life is like 10 years (not really, but definitely over 1 year). When you make it yourself, you’re lucky if it stays good for 1 week!

Almond Breeze Ingredients:

ALMONDMILK (FILTERED WATER, ALMONDS), CANE SUGAR, CALCIUM CARBONATE, SEA SALT, POTASSIUM CITRATE, SUNFLOWER LECITHIN, GELLAN GUM, VITAMIN A PALMITATE, VITAMIN D2, D-ALPHA-TOCOPHEROL (NATURAL VITAMIN E).

Gellan Gum is the real killer. Jillian Levy breaks it down for us in her article here. But simply put, this ingredient has some not-so-nice effects:

May alter healthy levels of gut bacteria
Commonly found in processed foods
Can cause digestive issues
Not found naturally in food

SEE YA LATER ALMOND BREEZE! Now that I know how easy it is to make cashew milk at home, I’ll never be purchasing packaged almond milk again. Check it out:

Ingredients:

1 cup soaked cashews (I soak mine in the fridge overnight)
4 cups water
6 pitted dates
1 tsp cinnamon (ground or whole)

Steps:

Drain your soaked cashews, then add them to your blender (I have a nutribullet and it works great! However in the video above I used our Vitamix at work)
Blend the nuts, water, pitted dates, and cinnamon on HIGH for about 45 seconds.
Strain the mixture into a bowl over a fine sieve. If you want your cashew milk REALLY smooth, then you can strain it through a nut milk bag like this one, or MAKE your own. However, I don’t mind the pulp!
Pour into your jar/jug of choice. Shake before serving. Boom baby!

You can add sea salt or different spices to experiment what you like best. Like I mentioned earlier, this will only last about a week before going bad, so drink up buttercup!

👇 CHECK OUT THE TUTORIAL VIDEO BELOW 👇