R: [Sca-cooks] Almond milk

[lilinah at earthlink.net]

A F Murphy <afmmurphy at earthlink.net>
>I've seen that almond milk is used in any number of recipes. I've a
>question. Does this at all resemble commercial almond milk? Can that be
>substituted, if time is a factor? Is it different?  Or does it just make
>more sense to make your own, because you don't want a full quart, or
>it's expensive, or...

Actually there are several brands of commercial almond milk available
and they don't taste the same nor have the same mouth-feel. And
naturally they don't behave the same.

I use it at camping events, but for feasts i have my minions, errr,
my kitchen staff make it to order.

I buy the brand with the fewest additives. I don't like the
mouth-feel of the gums in my almond milk and i don't want vanilla or
sweetener in mine either.

>I've never made it, (and I guess I have to find directions - grind 'em
>up with water and strain? Raw or roasted?

It depends on the recipe. Some are made with water, some with broth ,
some with wine, some with verjus.

>I've also only tried the commercial kind once,
>and learned that it doesn't set up as tapioca pudding - pity, sounded
>like a good idea- so I don't know what its properties are, either.

Do you mean you used it to make tapioca pudding? If so, i'm surprised
it wouldn't set. I thought it was the mixture of the starches in the
tapioca, plus the egg and milk that made it set. And i don't quite
see why almond milk wouldn't work - unless it had to do with some
additive in the specific brand you used.

Do you recall which brand it was? Each brand is different in terms of
additives besides water and almonds.

Anahita