Step 1

Soak almonds in very hot water with salt for 1 hour, or in cool water overnight. Then rinse and drain thoroughly.

Step 2

Add rinsed, drained almonds and 4 cups water to a high-speed blender and blend on high for 1 minute. Drape a nut milk bag over a mixing bowl and carefully pour the almond milk into the nut milk bag. Squeeze out the milk, making sure to squeeze thoroughly to leave pulp as dry as possible.

Step 3

At this point you have wet, raw almond pulp that can be used in things like energy bites and granolas (see list of ideas above). It can be stored in the refrigerator up to 1 week, or frozen for up to 1 month, often longer.

Step 4

Heat oven to 200 degrees F (93 C). Spread pulp evenly onto a parchment-lined baking sheet (small clumps are okay).

Step 5

Bake for 1 hour 45 minutes - 2 hours. Stir every 30 minutes for the first 1 ½ hours, then at 15-minute intervals until pulp is as dry as possible, but not toasted (see photo).

Step 6

Let the dried meal cool completely (we let ours cool overnight) before adding to a high-speed blender or food processor. Blend on high until a fine, powdery flour is achieved — about 15 seconds (it’s fast!).

Step 7

Be careful not to overblend or the almond meal will get clumpy. Check your blender for bits of almonds and continue blending, occasionally removing your blender from the base and shaking to ensure all almonds are well blended.

Step 8

Transfer to a jar or container and store up to 1 month unrefrigerated, often longer. One cup almonds used in making almond milk should yield roughly 2/3 cup raw almond pulp OR 2/3 cup dried almond meal.