Cashew Milk

Cashews. They are literally a vegan chef’s best friend. These versatile nuts, are actually not nuts at all. They are actually the seeds of a cashew fruit, or a cashew apple. The cashew fruit is used all around Asia, and made into a sweet fruit drink or smoothie. The fruit itself can also be distilled into a liquor. However, we are not going there today! Instead, we are going to make an easy, delicious, and nutritious nut-milk from the cashew seeds with which we are familiar.

This cashew milk is the perfect base for all of your smoothies, chia puddings, and even great with your morning cereal or granola. It is also free of carrageenan, a sea vegetable based thickening additive, which has been giving our store-bought nut milks a bit of a bad wrap. Apparently, studies have been done that link carrageenan to tumor development in the body. The studies are still new, but it isn’t a bad idea to begin subbing some of your store-bought nut-milks with these easy, breezy, delicious dairy milk alternative.

Ingredients:

1 C raw cashews (immersed, soaked and refrigerated in water for at least 4 hours)

4 C filtered or purified water

3 dates (pitted)

1/4 tsp cinnamon (optional)

1/4 tsp vanilla bean powder (optional)

Directions:

Drain and rinse soaked cashews. Place cashews, 4 C water, 3 dates and optional powders into a blender. Blend until uniform and foamy. Yields approximately 5 C of cashew milk. Store cashew milk in air-tight container in the fridge for up to 4 days. Enjoy!!