Making almond milk in your own kitchen is simply...simple. Soak. Strain. Squeeze.
Homemade Almond Milk
1) At bedtime, put 1 cup raw almonds in a quart canning jar. Cover with enough warm water (not city water treated with chlorine) to allow for nuts to plump. Add 1 tsp sea salt. "Salt in soaking water activates enzymes that neutralize enzyme inhibitors making the nuts easier to digest and their nutrients more readily available." Fallon, Sally. Nourishing Traditions. Washington, DC: NewTrends Publishing, 2001. 512. Also, soaking makes nuts easier to pulverize.
2) After soaking 8-12 hours, drain almonds and rinse well.
3) Fill blender container with 4 cups water. Add soaked almonds. Blend until creamy.
4) Pour liquid through a nut milk bag, cheesecloth, or a square of unbleached 100% cotton unbleached *Osnaburg Fabric. When milk flow slows down, draw together the sides of the fabric, then squeeze to extract remaining milk. If desired, save the pulp to use in recipes. (1 cup almonds produces 1/2 cup packed, or 1 cup loosely scooped, moist almond pulp.)
5) Pour milk back into blender container and add 1/4 tsp vanilla, 1/4 tsp almond extract and 2-3 dates. (If dates are dry, presoak in a little warm water to soften.) Although I haven't tried this, to make a richer, creamier "homogenized" milk, add 1 tsp -1 tbsp sunflower lecithin. Lecithin is a fat emulsifier that keeps fats (in the nuts) and liquids (water) from separating.
Note: I order truly raw, unpasteurized Italian Organic Almonds and Medjool Dates from Food to Live.
*Oznaburg is typically used for cross stitch and embroidery and is sold on a bolt at Joann Fabric & Crafts. I like it because the weave is larger but still tight enough so that almond pulp particles aren't allowed to eek thru the milk, and it allows the liquid to pass thru more rapidly than closely-woven fabric. After selecting a receptacle to use for straining the milk into, measure its diameter, then add on extra for overhang so that you have ample width to draw up the sides of the fabric to form a pouch that you can grasp and twist to squeeze out any remaining liquid from the pulp. The dimension of Oznaburg that I use to create a fabric strainer over my largest vintage Pyrex mixing bowl is 18" x 18". So, 1/2 yard of 45" natural, unbleached Oznaburg will provide you with two squares.