Vilk: a new name for almonds, cashew and buckwheat vegetal milk

There is something I often advise when it is about changing habits in food: don’t try to replace what you knew so far.
Add new ingredients, combine what you know with new tastes and improvise… new names!

Better a new name that everyone has to discover in your new food and life style, than the frustration of tasting something that is called “milk” when we are offering “almonds, cashew and buckwheat vegetal-based blended drink” with a different taste and texture.

So, ladies and gentlemen, dear readers, it is time to invent a new name: the Vilk!
“V” for vegetal.
“ilk” for the fact that it is still a whitish milk-like drink.

And now, let’s see how to produce our own tasty vilk (without blender) 🙂

Delicious vegetal milk from almonds, cashew, buckwheat… and inventing Vilk!

Your ingredients for a delicious vegetal milk

This vilk is my favorite personal blend so far, it took me a while and many attempts to end up with this recipe.
Probably your own taste – or the taste of the members of your family – might make you try other variations 🙂

INGREDIENTS for around 1 liter

• 1 handful of almonds (around 20 of them)

• A few cashew nuts

• 1 palmful of buckwheat grains

• 1 Brazil nut

• 2 dates

• 3 drops of vanilla flavor or some vanilla powder

• A pinch of salt

INSTRUCTIONS (Let’s start producing vilk!)

1. Soak together the almonds, the cashew nuts, the Brazil nut and the buckwheat in clean water (filtered water is fine) for 6-8 hours (overnight).

I usually find it more convenient to soak them in the evening for the next morning, or in the morning for the next evening.

Note about the Brazil nut: if I’m about to use the milk right away, I don’t soak the Brazil nut and I simply add it before blending. If I plan to store my vilk for a while, I soak it with the rest of the nuts.

Soaking the seeds and grain before preparing some vegetal milk

2. Then rince a few times your mix of seeds and grains, and pour it in a container adapted for blending (or in a blender if you have one).

You want to use a container high enough to not splash pieces of nuts everywhere 😉

Ready to blend the seeds

3. Add a little bit of water, just enough to cover everything (like on the picture).
When you put too much water you actually make it more difficult to blend your nuts finely, while a thicker liquid permits to avoid remaining with uncut pieces in your vilk.

4. Mix-blend well during a minute.
(if you have trouble with the Brazil nut, cut it in 3-4 pieces before blending)

5. Then remove the pits of the dates, cut them in 4 and add them to the mix.

6. Add a few drops of vanilla flavor and a pinch of salt.

7. Mix-blend again for another minute. Your goal is to not see any remaining pieces anymore in the liquid.

2 schools

Now you have 2 possibilities.

1- Follow the “all-in” school: your vilk is ready, just add water up to fill your 1-liter container.
Most of the time, I use my vilk with other nut-based ingredients so I just shake the container and pour whatever comes out.
It’s an easy way to eat the whole thing but I also think that it makes the vilk to alter quicker in time.
So I’d advise to follow this path in case you know you’d drink it within a couple of days.

2- Follow the “okara” school: filter your blended vilk with a nut-milk bag (a piece of clothes permitting to drain it well).
If you don’t have a nut-milk bag, check How to filter vegetal milk (vilk) without a nut-milk bag.
Squeeze well to drain out a maximum of liquid, and quick the remaining dry part (the okara) aside.

Definition
Okara is the soy pulp remaining after smashing and filtering soybeans in the production of soy milk and tofu.
It is possible to use it for cooking in stews, breads and cookies, as well as other vegetarian dishes.
By extension I use this term for what remains after filtering my nut vilk.
You can keep it stored in the fridge and easily use it in cakes or bread.

Nut okara remaining after filtering the milk out

For more details about vilk-filtering, visit How to filter vegetal milk (vilk) without a nut-milk bag.

In both case, this combination allows me to produce 1 liter of vilk in about 10 minutes.

Variations on the taste

If you are looking for a sweeter taste, try a hazelnut-almond or a hazelnut-cashew mix.
I haven’t felt the need to make it sweeter, but probably adding more dates, or a sweetener like maple syrup or stevia, would help.

If you want a stronger taste, simply add nuts from the beginning until you get something that you like.

Feel free to try your own blend and post your favorite recipes 🙂