Vegetable Milk with Citrus and Mint Scent

A fresh, nutritious and deliciously aromatic vegetable drink

Some call it “milk”, some prefer to define it as a “drink”, but however you describe it, it is now one of the undisputed protagonists of many recipes: we are talking about vegetable almond milk .
A tasty, naturally sweet drink, ideal for those looking for a valid substitute for animal milk.

You should know that a good part of the world's population does not have the lactase enzyme, which is used to break down the lactose present in milk of animal origin. This enzyme is in fact activated only during the period from breastfeeding to weaning, and allows us to digest the only nutrient we receive in the first months of life.
This is why more and more people nowadays are lactose intolerant and choose to replace cow's milk with vegetable milk. Many others instead make this choice because they decide to follow a vegan diet or one with less animal derivatives.
Whatever the reason, vegetable drinks are increasingly appearing on Italian breakfast tables, and even the most common supermarkets have now adapted.
It must be said, however, that very often packaged vegetable milk also contains other ingredients, including preservatives, sugars, oils and salt, and when reading the label you realise that the main raw material is found in a very low percentage.

Why not decide to make vegetable milk at home?

In this case, the juice extractor can help you produce delicious vegetable milk at home.

You can decide which ingredients you prefer, and whether or not to sweeten the drink. In addition, you will have the opportunity to experiment with drinks that are different from the usual ones, more difficult to find on the market, for example based on walnuts, pistachios or hemp.
The recipe we decided to prepare together today, in collaboration with A Better Juice, is instead based on almonds.
This is a fresh drink with a pleasant flavour, to be prepared using our VIVO Juice Extractor and adding citrus fruits and the aromatic note of mint.

A little note that we tell you right away: do not throw away the scraps ! You can use them to make delicious raw biscuits and sauces.

Almonds and their benefits

As we said, the main ingredient of this recipe will be almonds : oil seeds rich in vitamins and mineral salts useful for maintaining healthy bones, arteries and heart, excellent for making various recipes or even as a snack.

Let's discover some of their main properties:

• Among their vitamins we find in abundance E, A and those of the B group.
• Among the mineral salts, the main one is magnesium, followed by calcium, iron, potassium, copper, zinc, phosphorus and manganese.
• In addition to delighting the palate, almonds prevent cardiovascular diseases , helping to lower levels of bad cholesterol (LDL).
• The vitamin E they are rich in has an antioxidant power useful for slowing down the aging process and strengthening the immune defenses.
• They have an energizing and laxative action if consumed regularly
• They strengthen bones , teeth and are useful in cases of anemia .

Do you want to know how to proceed with the extraction of vegetable milk? Follow our advice below!

Rules for a Good Extraction of Vegetable Milk

For a good extraction of vegetable milk there are not many rules to follow; for each seed, apart from soy and coconut, the procedure is the same. Here are the main instructions:

• To obtain a litre of milk, you need to soak the seeds for 200 to 300 g.
• Soak the seeds for 8 hours
• Rinse the seeds from the soaking water
• Insert the seeds into the extractor together with 1.3 l of water, alternating continuously

You will thus have obtained milk on one side and the residue on the other.
To obtain a more concentrated and tasty milk/drink you can proceed with a second extraction, putting the residue back into the extractor and adding a third of the milk obtained.
To completely eliminate any residues, you can filter the milk with a superfine strainer.
Store the milk in a glass container in the refrigerator for three days. Shake well before consuming.

Let's see together, now, how to make your almond milk even tastier with the addition of citrus fruits and mint.

Ingredients

FOR 1 LITER OF MILK

• 200 g of almonds with the peel
• 1.3 liters of water
• 2 tablespoons rice syrup (optional)

FOR THE CITRUS MILK – 1 GLASS

• 300 ml of vegetable milk
• 1 organic lemon wedge with peel
• 1 organic orange segment with peel
• 6 mint leaves
• 1 tablespoon rice syrup or other sweetener

Filter

Narrow Hole Filter

Preparation

1. Insert the almonds into the VIVO BIG MOUTH extractor alternating with the water
2. Keep the drip-saving cap closed until the milk is well mixed.
3. Extract all the milk and mix well
4. Cut a lemon wedge and an orange wedge, keeping the peel to give the aroma
5. Pass the milk through the extractor together with the citrus segments and the mint
6. Mix the milk obtained well with the rice syrup or other favorite sweetener and serve with some ice cubes.

Suggestions

After extraction, vegetable milk can be enriched with cane sugar or other sweeteners such as rice syrup, agave syrup or similar, but also cinnamon, cocoa powder, chocolate or coconut flakes.
Vegetable drinks are also excellent when combined with fruit and vegetable extracts, thus obtaining a substantial drink ideal for breakfast.
Finally, vegetable milk can also be heated, but it must be kept in mind that high temperatures tend to cause the loss of some nutrients, for this reason it is best to keep it below 40°. Homemade drinks, using a good quantity of raw material, will tend to thicken with heat, which is less likely to happen with packaged drinks, as they contain more water.