Grandma’s almond milk recipe. Sicilian homemade almond milk is part of Sicilian cuisine and its timeless grandmother recipes. We’re talking about a delicious plant-based drink that can be made at home — simple, quick and wholesome — and it’s the perfect base for the famous Almond Granita, perhaps accompanied by another Sicilian delicacy, the famous Brioches col tuppo. From the preparation of this beverage nothing is wasted, because the leftover almond flour — also called almond okara — can be used to make many recipes such as Almond Okara Pound Cake.
As a child it was a treat my mother prepared with almonds from our countryside and today it’s a drink I often make in summer that refreshes the whole family. Whether almond milk is made without sugar or with sugar, homemade it is truly nutritious and indulgent and, unlike the commercial version,
it does not contain preservatives, emulsifiers or other substances of unknown origin. The Sicilian sweets that feature almonds as the undisputed protagonists are many: from Almond Paste Cookies to Cassata with its marzipan base, as well as marzipan fruit and Favara Easter lamb — this ingredient has always given us marvelous artistic pastry creations. Today, however, we will prepare the most famous drink you can make with almonds: Sicilian homemade almond milk using grandma’s recipe. The process is a bit long because it requires peeling the almonds by hand to maximize aroma, but the final result will be truly unique and delicious.
The flavor of homemade almond milk is less intense than the industrial one, less sweet because you can sweeten it to taste or make homemade almond milk without sugar, but at the same time it is very delicate and aromatic. It has a thinner consistency than store-bought versions since it does not contain thickeners or emulsifiers; also the almond particles suspended in the liquid tend to settle at the bottom, but simply shaking the bottle before serving will restore a uniform liquid — besides that, it is really, really good!
But now let’s go to the kitchen and prepare almond milk the way it used to be made. If you want to stay updated on all my recipes, you can follow my Facebook page (here) and my Instagram profile (here).

Difficulty: Very easy
Cost: Medium
Preparation time: 30 Minutes
Portions: 4 glasses
Cooking methods: Boiling
Cuisine: Italian
Seasonality: All seasons

202.77 Kcal

calories per serving

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Energy 202.77 (Kcal)
Carbohydrates 15.50 (g) of which sugars 10.91 (g)
Proteins 5.64 (g)
Fat 14.65 (g) of which saturated 1.10 (g)of which unsaturated 12.89 (g)
Fibers 3.33 (g)
Sodium 3.03 (mg)

Indicative values for a portion of 100 g processed in an automated way starting from the nutritional information available on the CREA^* and FoodData Central^** databases. It is not food and / or nutritional advice.

^* CREATES Food and Nutrition Research Center: https://www.crea.gov.it/alimenti-e-nutrizione https://www.alimentinutrizione.it ^** U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service. FoodData Central, 2019. https://fdc.nal.usda.gov

Ingredients to make homemade almond milk

7.1 oz almonds (Italian, good quality (about 1 3/8 cups, 200 g))
2 1/8 cups water ((about 500 ml))
5.5 tbsp sugar ((about 70 g, ~2.5 oz) )
6 bitter almonds (or 2–3 drops of bitter almond extract)

Tools

Blender / Mixer

Sicilian homemade almond milk: preparation…

Bring some water to a boil, turn off the heat and immediately immerse the almonds; let them rest for three minutes.
Drain them, let them cool slightly and peel them — to make this easier you can rub them against each other; most of them will slip out of their skins on their own.
Rinse the peeled almonds, put them in the blender jug with the sugar and 2 1/8 cups of water taken from the total, and blend at maximum speed for two minutes.
Strain your mixture through a cloth and squeeze well.
Collect the almond meal left in the cloth, put it back in the blender with the remaining water, blend again and then squeeze the mixture once more. Our almond milk is ready to be served, but I recommend refrigerating it to enjoy it cold.
(Dry the remaining almond meal in the oven at 122°F or, if it’s summer, in the sun; then grind it and store it in a jar. Use it in cakes and desserts in general, replacing 1/4 of the flour called for in the recipe).
Keep the almond beverage refrigerated for a maximum of three days and always serve it cold.