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Almond Milk

A homemade drink made by blending almonds with water, milk, sugar, and lemon rind.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Almond Milk

Why it works: Almond and lemon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 10% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,655 recipes. Both carry eucalyptol, which smells eucalyptus, herbal. The science ↓

Almond Milk

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the almonds

  1. Blanch the almonds by pouring boiling water over them and rubbing off the skins.

  2. Pound the almonds in a mortar, adding a few drops of milk to prevent oiling.

Make the milk

  1. Mix the pounded almonds with the pint of milk, sugar, and lemon rind.

  2. Simmer the mixture over low heat for a short time.

  3. Strain the mixture if preferred.

  4. Serve cold.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.

Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Almond + lemontop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,655 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  2. Milk + lemontop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together19,053 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  3. Almond + milktop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,800 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  4. Almond + sugartop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together15,679 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-penten-3-one (fish, pungent).

  5. Sugar + lemontop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together53,532 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

Sugar and lemon barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 53,532 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Shelled almonds
Provide the main body and nutty flavour of the milk once pounded and steeped.
Milk
Adds liquid and richness, carrying the almond flavour through the drink.
Sugar
Adds sweetness that balances the mild, slightly bitter almond flavour.

The step that matters

Pound the almonds with a few drops of milk. Pounding dry almonds can release oil and turn the paste greasy. Adding a few drops of milk keeps the oils emulsified, so the finished milk stays smooth rather than separating into oily specks.

Swap the almond

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (milk, sugar, lemon):

  1. Milletfits about as well
  2. Pistachiofits about as well
  3. Chickpeafits about as well
  4. Almondthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against milk, sugar, lemon. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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