Extending The Life Of Your Nut Milk

After you’ve gone through the process of making your own nut milk, I’m sure you would like to keep your nut milk fresh for as long as possible. We never want to waste good and nutritious nut milk! Find out more about how you can keep your homemade nut milk as fresh as possible for the longest time.

Can Nut Milk Go Bad?

The short answer is yes! The water content within content can allow bacteria to grow over time, causing your nut milk to go bad. You can tell when it’s time to toss out your nut milk when it looks thick, clumps a little or has a slimy texture, and has a sour taste and smell – pretty similar to regular cow’s milk. If you’re getting store-bought nut milk, it can usually last for a couple of weeks past its ‘best by’ date if unopened. Just make sure to finish it quickly after it’s opened!

How To Make Nut Milk That Lasts

In our previous article, we already covered the basics of how to go about making your own nut milk. It only requires a few pieces of equipment and very minimal time. We consider it pretty fool-proof! Furthermore, nut milk has so many wonderful benefits that we don’t think you would want to miss out on. If you aren’t using your homemade nut milk as quickly as you had imagined, here are some tips and tricks to help your nut milk last longer.

Tip #1 Blanch your nuts

If your nuts have their skins on, it is especially important to give them a quick blanch in hot water. Blanching them helps to remove the skin of the nuts which contain phytic acid. Unfortunately, this inhibits the absorption of some nutrition like calcium, iron, and zinc, all beneficial nutrients for the body. Taking the time to blanch and remove the skin on your nuts is definitely worth the time!

Instructions:

1. Boil water in a saucepan, enough to immerse the almonds.
2. Add nuts, wait one minute, remove from heat, drain, and peel.
3. Transfer blanched nuts to a bowl, pour filtered water to immerse, cover and refrigerate.

Tip #2 Don’t use your hands!

Once your nuts have been soaking for about a day, you’d need to drain the water from the soaked nuts and place them in a high-powered blender. Afterward, you should add filtered water and blend until smooth. At this point, you may want to refrain from using your hands to filter out the almond pulp. This is because your hands contain natural oils and bacteria, all of which could potentially contaminate your nut milk. We’d recommend the following to remove the pulp:

1. Use a super-fine nylon mesh strainer. These strainers are incredibly effective and easier to clean and sterilize than your regular nut bag. If you’re a regular nut milk user, we’d recommend getting a double-layered strainer to keep things sterile and convenient!
2. Alternatively, use a colander lined with a clean nut bag or cheesecloth to replicate the same effect.

Afterward, use a sterile metal spoon to press the milk out from the nut puree.

Tip #3 Sterilize, Sterilize and Sterilize

The greatest enemy for your nut milk is bacteria and mold. To keep your nut milk fresh for as long as possible, make sure to only use clean and sterile equipment.

1. Blanching the nuts and removing their skins before making nut milk helps to remove any lingering bacteria that may be present.
2. Only use filtered (or boiled and cooled) water to soak and add to your nut milk. You never know what bacteria could be lurking in your kitchen tap!
3. Lastly, ensure all your equipment is clean and sterile. Your glass bottle, strainer, spoon, bowls, blender, and funnel should all be as clean as possible. Some ways include soaking your equipment in boiling water or even microwaving the glass bottles and bowls on high for a minute.

Try Making Your Own Nut Milk Today!

As you can see, it isn’t difficult to produce nut milk that will last you some time. Just remember to store your nut milk in the fridge! With that, we hope you get the chance to try your hand at making your nut milk today.