Post #337542 by Sgirl on Tue, Oct 9, 2007 11:34 PM

On 2007-10-09 11:59, The Gnomon wrote:
If I get one of thoise grinders, I think I will start blanching my own almonds again instead of being lazy and using pre-blanched slivered almonds. As for your thick milk. Braggart! I'm envious.

Really? It does make great almond milk, but seems a pain for orgeat. Hopefully I figure out how to get separation. Anyhoo, it's not me, it's the blender! I invested in it as a bday present to myself last Spring when I changed my diet dramatically. I make "ice cream" with frozen fruit & soy or almond milk, smoothies (sometimes with green veggies in them) and almond or cashew milk. I use it alot so it was worth it. I don't think I'd buy it just to make almond milk. But Jack Lalane makes a cheaper version of a high speed blender I've heard works well and goes on sale on JC Penney's periodically.

I think it's worth it to blanch your own almonds. I tried not doing it once and the almond milk was much less flavorful. It only takes me about 10 min to skin a cup of almonds. It's actually pretty relaxing/meditative, esp with good music on. Oh, the other good thing about the high speed blender is you can use less almonds and more water (3 cups water to 1 cup almonds) so over the long term it could actually save money if you make gallons and gallons of almond milk. And there is no soaking time needed. Whir it up, strain/milk it and you're done, at least with the almond milk portion. We'll see how much time it adds to wait for separation...