To make almond milk, you really want raw, or at least not roasted, almonds. Here in Cali all almonds are irradiated, so not raw, but definitely not roasted.
If you can find them, blanched (skinned) almonds are the way to go. Don't worry though, if you can't find them or they are too pricy. It's easy to do on your own.
Basically, what I do is soak the almonds overnight-24hrs (minimum of 8 hrs, more is good)
Drain and rinse them. Throw them into a pot of boiling water for 30 seconds, then strain and throw into a bowl of cold water. Then I just pop out the almonds from the skin. Be careful though, those things like to really fly.
If you want to go all raw with no boiling, you can peel off the skin after soaking. However, it's going to take a loooooong time to do so. I don't care for raw milk, so I'm fine with 'home' blanching the almonds.
I throw them into the food processor with a pinch of salt and some granulated sugar to grind them medium-fine. Too fine and you will clog your filter. Too chunky and you don't get a lot of milk. You don't need to add sugar, but I like to add a bit of it (can't taste it in the final product) since it seems to make grinding it a bit easier.
To get lots of milk and get rid of the 'raw' taste (I don't like it), I add the meal and half the water to a pot, bring to a boil, let boil 5 minutes, let cool and strain it. Then mix with the rest of the water. If I want a vanilla flavor, I add in the vanilla extract during the last 2 min of boiling. I don't like the alcohol flavor it leaves otherwise, and 2 min of boiling really gets rid of it without getting rid of the vanilla flavor. I like mine plain though.
My proportions make 1 gallon of almond milk:
2 c dry, skin on almond.
Put into a bowl with double the amount of water to soak.
To the grind, I add 1/3c granulated sugar and half a teaspoon of salt.
To the pot, I add half a gallon of water (8 cups), and boil.
Once cooled and strained, I add in the other 8 cups, stir and enjoy!
ETA: With the vanilla, I add a teaspoon or two.
I've used honey for sweetening but didn't care for how it overpowered the almond milk.
The left over is almond meal. I use it in baked goods. I mix it with flour to make a nice cake-esque treat, usually with whatever ripe fruit needs to be used up mixed in.
I've also mixed it with enough flour and a couple eggs to resemble cookie dough in thickness. Mix in your 'flavorings' (coconut, chocolate chips, spices), and bake like a regular cookie (think 350* for 1-15+ minutes).
Ami
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Cheesecloth can be found in the kitchen section of a regular grocery store (near the spatulas & stuff) so I think Target might carry it.
