Meet your new favorite milk. If you’ve never made an alternative milk at home before this one is a good place to start. Pistachio milk is a simple DIY that you’ll want to keep in your recipe book. It feels like a special occasion type drink for those fancy times in life.
Funny story, around Christmas time my aunt used to make pistachio cookies when I was a kid. I loved them. They felt so special because they were around only once a year and I felt like I could never get enough. Until one day I did. I remember I ate so many that they actually made me sick. So, for years I would never let myself eat anything made with pistachios for fear that I’d feel sick again. Fast forward a few decades and I don’t feel that way anymore. In fact, I seek them now and this recipe is definitely one of my favorites.
The process for pistachio milk is pretty simple. The goal is to soften up the nuts by soaking them in the refrigerator overnight. Then after the nuts are strained, add them to a blender with salt and pulverize them with water until the nuts turn into a fine mash (about 2 minutes). If you like your milk to be sweetened, add that then blend again for a few moments. One helpful piece of equipment to have on hand is a nutbag. A piece of cloth (cheesecloth or a dish towel) will work too if you don’t have one. Strain the blended mash through the nutbag or cloth and store the milk in an airtight container up to a week.
PISTACHIO MILK RECIPE
Ingredients
- 1 cup of raw pistachios
- 2 cups of water + 3 cups of spring water for blending
- Pinch of salt
- 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla extract (optional)
Directions
- Soak the pistachios overnight in the refrigerator.
- Strain the nuts and discard the soaking water.
- Blend the nuts, salt and the spring water until they turn into a mash (about 2 minutes).
- Add sweetener if using.
- Strain through a nutbag or cloth and store in the refrigerator up to a week.
- Enjoy!