The Great Homemade Milk Experiment

I recently checked out a book from the library called Living Raw Food, which inspired me with its variety of homemade non-dairy milk recipes. I decided to try them out and see if I liked any of them better than my usual brand of almond milk.

First I made hemp milk. It was super thick. I strained it through a fine mesh sieve.

It was still quite thick, and the hemp milk grounds tended to collect at the bottom of the glass (even after straining). If I made this again, I would double the amount of water, to thin it out. I can't decide how I feel about the earthy, green flavor that the hemp seeds impart. Sometimes I find it gross, but other times I like it. Kind of like drinking wheatgrass juice.

Next I made coconut milk, using dried, shredded coconut. This had a more "milky" consistency i.e. not so thick and creamy. For coconut milk lovers, this is probably a cheaper option than buying it at the store. Personally, I am not a huge coconut milk convert. I prefer nut milks.

That brings us to my third experiment, cashew milk. Living Raw Food suggests a shortcut of using cashew butter instead of soaked raw cashews. This milk was the fastest to make, did not require straining, and had the best flavor out of the three. I liked it so much I made another batch when my first pitcher ran out. 

Cashew butter is pricy ($14 per jar at the food co-op), so I'm not sure how much money I would save making this at home instead of buying my usual almond milk. But now I know I enjoy the taste of cashew milk. I guess the next step is to make it with raw cashews, which would be cheaper than using cashew butter, and see how we like that. I should also try making my own almond milk.

Do you make milks at home? Got a favorite recipe?

So Delicious Review

Recently...OK, not so recently...back in July (sorry!)...So Delicious was awesome enough to send me some coupons to try out a variety of their dairy-free products.

The coconut milk creamer is rich and non-curdling in tea or coffee. It can also be used in cooking -- for example, to make a pasta sauce a little more decadent and creamy.

 

If you didn't know (I didn't), So Delicious coconut milk is nothing like the cans of thick coconut milk that you would use to make a curry. It's thin like a dairy or soymilk. It comes in original, unsweetened, and vanilla flavors. And it doesn't really taste like coconut at all, if you're worried about that.  I enjoyed it on my chia oats.

 

 

The only thing that stops me from buying it regularly is that one serving contains 25% of your daily saturated fat. So if you're using it on your morning cereal, and then you have some in your coffee, and then you have milk and cookies later, or whatever, you might be ingesting more saturated fat than you planned to. But I do buy it on occasion, just to switch things up from our usual soymilk.

We tried three different types of ice cream sandwich "Minis" -- vanilla (made with coconut milk), lowfat vanilla (made with soymilk), and lowfat neapolitan (made with soymilk).  They were all fabulous. A perfect little treat on a hot day -- which we had far too many of, back when we were sampling these products.

Next we tried the coconut milk yogurt.

We loved the chocolate flavor. It could be eaten as a dessert. I've bought it several times since I originally tried it.  I also sampled the mango flavor, but it had a tartness I didn't care for.

Next up, cultured coconut milk. I guess it's similar to a kefir drink. The live cultures are supposed to be beneficial.  We had the strawberry flavor -- there's also chocolate and vanilla.  It has a thick, smoothie-like texture that Jackson and Olivia love. I have bought this from time to time and it never lasts long, because they want to drink it all up.

Finally, coconut milk ice cream.  I love mint chocolate chip. I'm not sure why I bought the sugar-free variety, but there you go. 

Now this product, I would say, should be eaten as a very rare treat, as one serving contains 45% of your daily saturated fat. It's super rich, and pretty yummy.

I'm so very grateful to So Delicious for their generosity.  Do you like their products? Have you tried their holiday beverages yet? The nog has been calling to me, and then today at Natural Grocers I noticed there is also a mint chocolate drink. Yum!