Today was horchata day. I finally got my quarterly delivery of almonds and made brown rice and almond horchata, although I'm not sure that what was made is a traditional horchata.
I've been making almond milk for years, but this combination of ingredients posed a challenge. The biggest issue was how to deal with the cinnamon sticks, so here is what I did and the ingredients I used.
5/8 cup raw, organic, unpasteurized almonds (the only type of almonds I use)
1/2 cup medium grain, organic brown rice - this and the almonds are from Massa Organics
2 sticks of Ceylon cinnamon soaked in 1 quart of filtered, tap-temperature water.
1 seeded Medjool date for sweetness
1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
pinch of Diamond Crystal salt
I rinsed and soaked the rice and almonds together in two changes of filtered water. The cinnamon was soaked separately for 12 hours in filtered water, the last four hours in the fridge to get the water very cold. I was hoping that the cinnamon would infuse the water with its flavor and aroma, which it did, but perhaps too subtly.
All the ingredients but the cinnamon sticks went into the Vitamix and got a good whirring for 60 seconds. I left the cinnamon sticks in the jar in which they soaked. The liquid in the Vitamix was strained through the nut milk bag (eG-friendly Amazon.com link) and then poured into the jar with the cinnamon sticks.
After tasting the less-than-appropriately cold drink, it seems that the texture and the flavor are very close to what I was hoping for. Final judgment is reserved for tomorrow morning, but I know I'm close.