small pinch of fine grain sea salt, to enhance the flavour
Body
Place almonds in a bowl and cover with water. It’s preferred to soak them overnight (for 8-12 hours) in the water, but you can get away with soaking for 1-2 hours in a pinch.
Rinse and drain the almonds and place into a blender along with filtered water, pitted dates, and chopped vanilla bean.
Blend on highest speed for 1 minute or so.
Place a nut milk bag over a large bowl and slowly pour the almond milk mixture into the bag. Gently squeeze the bottom of the bag to release the milk. This took me about 3-5 minutes to get all the milk out.
Rinse out blender and pour the milk back in. Add the cinnamon and pinch of sea salt and blend on low to combine.
Pour into a glass jar to store in the fridge for up to 3-5 days. Shake jar very well before using as the mixture separates when sitting. Enjoy with Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies for a real treat. This milk is also lovely with cereal.
Notes: If your dates or vanilla bean are dry/stiff, soak in water to soften before use. You can also use another sweetener of your choice like maple syrup. Same goes for vanilla – feel free to use vanilla extract for a more subtle vanilla flavour.
Place the rhubarb and sugar in a medium bowl and stir to combine.
Cover the bowl with foil and place in the fridge to macerate for 2 days.
After two days, position a fine mesh strainer over a small bowl and pour the mixture through to remove the solids. Save for another use or discard the solids.
Combine the strained syrup with the vinegar in a pint jar and shake to combine and help dissolve any extra sugar.
Serve topped with soda water to taste and store in the fridge.
Notes:
This really does make a small batch, right around a half pint. Of course, it can easily be scaled up if you have more rhubarb to invest and you already know you’re a fan of shrubs.
Your final product will not suffer if the rhubarb macerates for a bit longer than two days.