What natural emulsifier can I use for almond milk?
I am a vegan and I make my own raw almond milk (blend soaked almonds, strain through a nut milk bag).
The trouble comes when I want to warm the milk for a warm drink or to put in my coffee - if it gets too hot the fat separates from the liquid part and it's really gross. It loses its flavour too.
Is there a natural, vegan emulsifier I can use that will stop this from happening?
Best Answer
Your best bet for this is xanthan gum, which is an excellent stabiliser. Whilst the distinction between 'natural' and 'unnatural' is fraught with difficulties, insofar as xanthan gum is a product of microbial fermentation then it is no more 'unnatural' than alcohol or vinegar.
Be careful not to use too much though (unless, of course, you want your drink to have the texture of mucus), you really only want to use about 0.4% of the volume of the liquid you're trying to stabilise: so if you have 500ml of milk then you would use 2g of gum. Add it to your liquid and use a blender or an immersion stick to incorporate, a few pulses should do, any more than that and you'll just incorporate air and you could just end up with an annoyingly stable foam!
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How do you emulsify homemade almond milk?
Blend the soaked almonds, filtered water, sunflower lecithin, salt, and any optional add-ins in a high-speed blender until all the almonds have broken down and the mixture becomes frothy. A Vitamix can handle a full batch, but you might have to do more batches with smaller blender.What emulsifier is used in almond milk?
Because big companies want their nut milks to resemble dairy milk in texture and appearance, they use emulsifiers like lecithin gum to \u201cstabilize\u201d the product.How do you thicken almond milk naturally?
The best way to control the viscosity is to reserve some of the almond milk in its unthickened state, heat and thicken the other part, then combine them together for the perfect consistency of whole milk. To do this, reserve about half of the thin almond milk in a pitcher and add the other half to a large saucepan.How do you fortify homemade almond milk?
Add a generous pinch of sea salt and any supplements or flavors (like vanilla and honey or stevia) you are adding. I used 4 calcium tablets so each cup of milk would have 30% RDA of calcium, plus magnesium and vitamin D3. Cover with just enough fresh water to keep the blades running smoothly.There's NO ALMONDS In Your Almond Milk - Here's The BEST Milk Alternatives
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Answer 2
You can add things like lecithin or flax seeds to help keep your milk emulsified, but it will still probably separate in hot liquid. To prevent that, you might try to add something fattier to your milk, like coconut.
Answer 3
You can purchase soy lecithin from good cooking suppliers or online, about 0.5% lecithin by volume of fat will emulsify it well. Many soy lecithins are not GMO free
I have not tried soy lecithin with almond milk, but it works for soy milk
For an alternative, try sunflower lecithin, usually available in health food/supplement shops. It is more likely to be GMO free, works as well, and tastes more interesting
As SourDoh, there may not actually be enough fat in almond milk for the emulsifier to hold
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