To ken86's first post here on making your own almond milk,

I believe soaking almonds is necessary to remove/neutralize the tannins and more importantly, phytic acid content.

However, there are two concerns that I have:
1. Just by soaking with plain water, how does that remove the phytic acid? Do we need to add some other agents, e.g. salt, or baking soda? Some even say slightly acidic water as this will activate the enzymes to neutralize the phytic acid.
2. Currently most almonds that are being sold, even if labelled as raw, are already pasteurized. Is soaking with plain water of any help here? Do the almonds even contain any enzymes already?

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Added on September 13, 2011, 12:18 pmFound this to be useful, at least some extra details, though not entirely complete & straightforward

http://wss.nourishingconnections.org/Educa...f%20Soaking.pdf

This post has been edited by entryman: Sep 13 2011, 04:03 PM

I think apple cidar vinegar is used for killing germs instead.

Just had my home made almond milk just now.

Tastes great, only when chilled though. Very refreshing taste and texture.

Before trying I thought it would taste like the dreadful almond milk premix sachets, but surprising, not at all.

The taste is almost the same as eating em almonds, just a much lighter/blander version as it's in liquid form.

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What you will need for making 1 litre of almond milk
- Blender
- Filter bag/nut milk bag
- Clean bottle for storage
- Sieve

- 1 cup of almonds
- Boiled/purified water
- 1 tsp salt

Process (to make 1 litre of almond milk with 1 cup of almonds)

1. Pour about 500ml clean, boiled/purified water (room temp) into a big bowl
2. Pour in the almonds and soak approx. 20 minutes
3. Remove the almonds from the bowl
4. Discard the water and pour in 1 litre of boiled/purified water (room temp)
5. Dissolve 1 teaspoon of salt with a little hot water and mix into the bowl of water
6. Add in the almonds and soak for 9 - 12 hours.
7. Drain the water, shake the almonds in the sieve till they're relatively dry
8. Pour 4 cups (950ml) of boiled/purified water into the blender and blend the almonds for approximately 1 minute on medium speed till fine.
9. Pour the almond milk through the filter bag and squeeze the bag so that you won't be wasting any milk.
10. Store in the fridge, consume within 48 hours.

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Nutrition facts of almond milk

1 cup of whole almonds (143g)
822 calories
31g carbs, 30g protein, 71g fats (7% saturated, 62% monounsaturated, 24% polyunsaturated fats primarily in the form of omega 6 fatty acids)

Therefore one cup (240ml) of almond milk provides approximately (240ml/1000ml)
200 calories
7.4g carbs, 7.2g protein, 17.4g fats

Vitamins and Minerals content
I'm only listing the highest ones
1 cup of almond milk will lead to fulfilling %DV (percentage of recommended daily requirements)
Vitamin E - 44.88%
Riboflavin - 20.40%
Manganese - 39.12%
Magnesium - 23.04%
Phosphorus - 16.56%
Calcium - 9.12% < Same amount or more than cow's milk. currently checking bioavailibility comparison, will update!
Iron - 7.2%
Copper - 17%

This post has been edited by entryman: Sep 22 2011, 10:17 PM