Cashew Milk

I had leftovers for dinner tonight so I figured I'd post a recipe for cashew milk. It's super creamy. This recipe works for making any sort of nut milk, but cashew is my favorite and as far I know not commercially available. Substitute almonds or hazelnuts if you'd prefer.

INGREDIENTS:

1 c. cashews

4 c. water

DIRECTIONS:

1. Soak the cashews in 1 c. of water for several hours. Today I left them for eight. You want it to be long enough that they blend well. Overnight's fine.

2. Pour soaked nuts and water into a blender and add the remaining 3 c. water. Puree for a minute or so, then flip up to grind, and finally crank into liquefy. I move up to a higher setting when the noise of the blender becomes regular, because at that point the nut pieces are of uniform size. Pulse a few times for good measure.

3. Set up some mason jars. Either cover the opening with cheesecloth or place a mesh strainer in a funnel. Pour the milk through the filter into the jars.

4. If you've soaked and blended well, there will be almost no cashew paste at the end. This is bittersweet, because pulverized cashew paste is tasty. Almonds don't blend as well so when I make almond milk I usually have a big bowlful of pulp left over that I make into porridge or bake into cookies.

Here's the sort of strainer I use.