Post #267090 by KuKuAhu on Thu, Nov 16, 2006 6:14 AM

On 2006-11-15 14:41, martiki wrote:
KKH,

Did it come out cloudy with the almond milk?

The cloudiness in commercial brands is an attempt to mimic the way natural orgeat comes out- it's emulsified from the almond oil. When you soak blanched almonds to get the milk, you also get a lot of almond oil. When it's blended with the sugar and water, you get a cloudy result. That's why Torani and others add oil.

And yes, it's a huge pain in the ass to make from scratch.

Yes, it does come out cloudy, and I expected this. In my research into commercial brands in the first post I noted gums and oils being used for cloudiness, so this was a goal in the process.

To be honest, a very satisfying and cheap homebrew orgeat is surprisingly easy to make. If you can make sugar syrup, you can make orgeat in the same amount of time.

I have been playing around with it more, and the easiest method to make a version akin to commercial is as follows (minus measurements):

1. Make sugar syrup with white sugar as you normally would (1 pound sugar to one cup water) and let it cool.

2. Add some almond milk for cloudiness. A litle goes a long way.

3. Add natural almond extract. Better brands taste better. Use quite a lot of it too.

4. Add rose water or orange flower water. 2 tbs per fifth seems right.

5. Bottle it.

Congrats, you have orgeat on par with any I have tasted from a factory, minus the artificial/chemical flavor. And it looks correct too.

It really was the simplest bar recipe I have ever had to crack.

Ahu