The other night I was woken up with a horrible cramp in my right leg. I rarely get cramp so it’s a painful shock when I do. I decided I needed magnesium, which is necessary to prevent tight muscles, and while we normally use almonds or tiger nuts for homemade milk (see Nut & Seed Milks & Smoothie Recipes), yesterday morning it was cashew nuts I turned to for their magnesium content (see Magnesium: Are You Getting Enough?).
I like cashew milk, the blended cashew pulp is so fine, smooth and creamy, if you press too hard it all starts to come through the straining bag; in fact, many people prefer not to strain it at all.
Homemade cashew milk is much better nutritionally than commercial nut milk: many manufacturers add thickeners, gum, sugar and so on, and the levels of protein and other nutrients are a fair way behind those in homemade milk.
Cashew nut milk is lactose- and cholesterol- free, contains calming and relaxing magnesium, iron, calcium and several other vitamins and minerals as well as healthy fats. It also contains tryptophan an amino acid that enables the production of serotonin, which is mood-enhancing.
We make our plant milks in a Froothie Optimum blender (pictured above). It is fast, easy to use, can handle ice cubes and is super-easy to clean. The Retro Fast Blend* (featured in the photo below with its partner the Retro Cold-Press Juicer* ) also makes nut milk, but is smaller so we use the Optimum for larger quantities.
Here’s our version:
Vegan, Organic, Gluten-free.
1 Cup Cashews (we use broken pieces, they are cheaper), soaked overnight and soaking water discarded
3 Cups Water
1 Medjool Date (optional)
1/4 Tsp Vanilla Extract
Pinch of Pink Himalayan Salt
(The date and salt help preserve the milk so it keeps for 3-4 days in an airtight jar or bottle in the fridge).
Add them all to a high-speed blender and blend on high for about 60 seconds.
Strain through a nut milk bag or a piece of muslin into a large jug or use as it is.
Store in an glass jar or bottle in the fridge. We use these funky easy-grip bottles from Grip and Go
For breakfast, the cashew milk was used to make a gorgeous Frozen Mango Chia Pudding – see next post for recipe!
See also Magnesium-Rich Hippy Hippy Shake
* You may like to read Retro Super Blend – Review, Which Juicer? – Where to Begin?, and Juicemaster Retro Super Fast Juicer: Review for information on blenders and juicers we have tried and currently use.
Copyright: Chris McGowan
pearsnotparsnipsdotcom 
Thank you SO much for this. I struggle to get nut milks without added sugar here and those that are sugar free are horribly expense (think 4.50 Euro a carton) and I can’t justify them. I bring nut milk with me from Britain whenever I visit but have recently started to contemplate making my own. Your post is nothing short of kismet!
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Wonderful, hope you do it 😊 I think tiger nut milk is my favourite, creamy and sweet, but I also make almond and have made hemp seed milk too. So many different types to try. You can leave out the date if you want less sweetness or want to use the milk for savoury cooking.
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I am absolutely going to. I need to buy the equipment and I am so grateful to you for pinpointing it for me … I only have my stick blender with me and I don’t want to invest in the wrong thing! Tiger nut … not sure what that is here … will be fun working it out and we have a wonderful bio/health supermarché in the old town which I visit most days 🙂
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Tiger nut milk is also known as Horchata, it’s popular in Spain.
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Interesting. I will look up what it is called here.
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Night cramps are horrible. I get these sometimes too. The doctors in the pain medicine clinic where I worked used to suggest magnesium supplements or quinine tablets.
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Fortunately I have only had them a couple of times. Supplements are very hit and miss because you have no idea what strength to take or how kind ch you are absorbing, and you can get the balance wrong with other minerals like calcium, boron and Vitamin D and give yourself other problems. Also, the quality varies so much from brand to brand, the cheaper ones having lots of fillers etc. That’s why I prefer to get my magnesium naturally. It’s more readily absorbed and you’re not likely to overdose. People with kidney problems need to be careful about mineral supplements, for instance, and overdosing can cause low blood pressure, vomiing, irregular heartbeat and even cardiac arrest.
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I have those horrible cramps too. Yuck! I didn’t know cashews had magnesium. Thank you for sharing.
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You’re welcome. Oats have too. this post may help: http://wp.me/p6UDky-11c
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