Eating Healthier in Today's World

NUT FLOURS - ANOTHER SOURCE OF FLOUR

Almond milk and flour are staples in our kitchen pantry. Even though we do not have gluten sensitivities in our family, we do love the taste and texture that almonds add to our food. Rich almond milk and nutritious almond flour however can be fairly expensive (not to mention over processed). So making our own seemed the best compromise. It can take a little time, but as it is broken up into stages, with proper planning it is as easy as pie...almond pie!

In this blog I will be sharing my process, which includes making almond milk first, then using the pulp to make flour and also my friend Joelene's method in which she makes just flour from almonds.

We both soak our almonds prior to using them, but Joelene takes hers a step further by 'sprouting' them.

Why soak almonds? Here is a great explanation from frugivoremag.com:

“Soaking all tree nuts — especially almonds, since they aren’t botanically a tree nut but a seed — keeps you healthy by elevating the vitamins and nutrients your body absorbs from the food, creating a straightforward and efficient process to unlock the treasures inside this healthy seed. Raw almonds have tannic acid and an enzyme inhibitor in their brown skin that protects the nut until the proper levels of sunlight and moisture allow it to germinate. Since the nut does not release its enzymes until those conditions have been reached, eating almonds without removing the inhibitor limits the nutrients your body can absorb and makes the almond difficult to digest. By soaking almonds, you provide the moisture that makes the almond shed its skin and release its enzymes. The process works with most nuts and seeds”.

 Why take the extra step and sprout the almonds? Here it is explained by Tiffany at dontwastethecrumbs.com:

Sprouting seeds, grains, nuts and beans can give life to our dead food and help alleviate these problems and provide so many other benefits:

• produces Vitamin C
• increases vitamins B2, B5 and B6
• increases carotene
• neutralizes phytic acid
• neutralizes enzyme inhibitors
• breaks down complex sugars that cause intestinal gas
• predigests some starches into sugar
• inactivates the potent carcinogen aflatoxin
• produces additional enzymes that aid in digestion

Soaking almonds is as simple as it sounds. I start with one cup of raw almonds placed in a qt. size mason jar.  I then cover the almonds with clean filtered water with about 2” of extra water on top. I place the jar in the fridge and let the almonds soak from 8 to 24 hours (depending on when I have time to get around to processing them) 

Sprouting almonds can be a little more cumbersome. Once you have soaked the almonds, you rinse and drain them, doing this each day for a couple of days until small 'sprouts' or 'tails' have formed on the end of the almond. The sprout does not have to be very large – 1/8 to 1/4” is sufficient.

Pam's Method

After soaking the almonds, rinse and drain. Place in your Bosch Blender or other high speed blender. Add water (I add 2 cups because I like a rich and creamy almond milk, suitable for adding to coffee. For a more 'milky' consistency, add up to 4 cups of water). I add nothing else, but you could add a tablespoon of your favourite sweetener. Blend on high for 1 minute (or longer if you are using a low speed blender, or food processor attachment).

 Once blended you will need to strain the milk to separate it from the pulp. I use a sifter lined with a cheesecloth placed over a large measuring jug. I allow it to drain until I am left with a very wet pulp. At this point I will lift the cheesecloth and squeeze the excess milk out. However, if I am making flour with the pulp, I will leave it a little wetter than I would if I was just making the milk (in which case you want to squeeze every last drop of it out!)

 The milk in the measuring jug is now ready to be refrigerated. As it is not processed and is all natural, you will need to finish it within the week. The almond milk will separate in the fridge, where the fat will rise to the top....just give it a good shake before you use it.

 The wet pulp is placed in my dehydrator on a dehydrator tray and I dry it at 120 degrees for 6 hours. Once it is dry, it is powered in the Bosch Food Processor attachment and then sifted. With this process, I am usually left with 3 cups almond milk, 3/4 cups almond flour and 1/4 cup almond meal (the bits that will not go through the sifter).

Joelene's Method.

Joelene starts with 1 cup of raw almonds and uses the sprouting method. Once the almonds have sprouted, she spreads them out in the Dehydrator on the dehydrator trays and dries at 120 degrees for at least 12 hours.

 Once dry, the almonds are allowed to cool then ground up in her Food Processor attachment. Joelene doesn't usually sift her almond flour (I was tempted, but decided to stick to her way for now!)

Joelene's method produced around 1 cup of flour.

Next time, a little cookie experiment to see if we can notice the taste and texture difference between the almond flours.