posted by Liz Thomas 11-20-102 9:26 PM
Sweet Almond Orgeat (French)
Make sure that you use very good quality almonds.
Makes about 1.75 litres
100 blanched almonds
1 litre water
800 g sugar
Thinly pared rind of 1 lemon
Soak the almonds for two hours in cold water. Drain them and crush them (you could use a food processor). Transfer them to a large bowl and mix them with the water, leave to stand for one hour. Place a damp cloth in a sieve over another large bowl and strain the almond and water mixture through – squeeze it hard to extract all the flavour.
Put the almonds back into the almond water, let it stand for another hour and then strain again. Repeat a third time. This is so that you get all the flavour out of the almonds.
Pour the strained liquid into a pan, discard the almond pulp, and add the sugar and lemon rind and cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until it is just about to boil. Remove from the heat and leave to get cold. Serve cold.