Probiotic Cashew Buttermilk

This recipe follows the same principle as the probiotic yogurt and the probiotic cashew sour cream. After trying different cashew buttermilk versions involving either apple cider vinegar or lemon juice, I decided that neither one seemed to work for me. Yes, you could make buttermilk pancakes with them, but for pure drinking purposes, no! I used to love and drink a lot of buttermilk in my vegetarian times, so I either wanted that taste or just give it up for good. I declared myself a buttermilk snob and let that topic go for a while, until ….. I experimented with cashew sour cream and yogurt. The good thing is, there’s really minimal work involved. You just have to be able to keep your hands off it for two days.

You will need:

• a high speed blender

Ingredients:

• 1 cup unsalted raw cashews, soaked in sufficient filtered water overnight or for at least 4 hours
• 1 1/2 – 1 2/3 cup filtered water (start with less – you can add more as you go!)
• 3 probiotic capsules (I used ‘Renew Life’/ Ultimate Flora/ 50 Billion Live Cultures)

Preparation:

Dump the water you soaked the cashews in, rinse, and drain again. Put cashews and filtered water in your blender and blend on high speed for about 3- 4 minutes until creamy but still liquid. It will thicken a little bit with the probiotics. Pour the liquid into a glass/ceramic/plastic pitcher or bowl and let cool down at room temperature. For the following, use either a plastic or wooden spoon. Open the probiotic capsules and thoroughly blend the powder with your cashew milk. Cover with a clean kitchen towel or cheese cloth and secure with a rubber band. Let the mixture sit at room temperature for 2 days. After one day you can sample it , but it will still be too mild. On the second day, it will be perfect. Keep the buttermilk covered in the fridge. It tastes best when chilled.

Notes:

• Start blending with the least amount of water. You can always add more, even when it’s already buttermilk.
• I love to drink it just like that, but you could also pour it onto your cereal, use it in a salad dressing, or blend it with fruit.
• You could of course also make buttermilk pancakes with it, but I don’t know if the probiotics would survive that.