Homemade Oat Milk
By Jenn (TinyChoices.com) | June 7, 2011
Back when I was veganish, I had given up all dairy products- which meant I was drinking a lot of soymilk in place of cow’s milk. And even though I’m not quite sure where I stand with the soy controversy, it felt better/healthier for me to not be drinking mammals milk.
These days, I’m not veganish at all, though I do still try to minimize how much dairy I’m eating- but I still find cow’s milk just kind of icky. I buy one small carton of it per week, and the only thing I use it for is my coffee. See, the area where I’m currently living doesn’t have a large selection of alternative milks to choose from, and the ones I can find are pretty expensive- so there’s not much of an option for lightening my one cup of morning joe.
Then I realized that maybe it was time to try making my own alt-milk- something I’d thought about before but never attempted. I have a friend who makes almond milk every few days and likes to tell me how simple it is, so I thought I’d give it a go, but using oats instead of almonds (oats are way cheaper).
I found this recipe for homemade oat milk and mostly followed it, though my oats soaked for about double the recommended time. I made the cooked version and added a little vanilla to the batch, for flavor- and I didn’t have a fine sieve so I just stacked the three mesh strainers I do own one on top of each other, and the milk flowed through the lot of them.
The result: yummy alternative milk, for only a few pennies per liter and about half an hours worth of time. My oat milk worked well with granola and fruit, and I’d definitely make it again- though, I’m sad to say, I found it too watery for use in my coffee. So while I’m still stuck with the milky-milk for coffee, I’ve got a delicious, cheap, and nearly waste-free milk source for all of my other needs. Next up is a batch of almond milk, which I’m thinking may be better able to stand up to a strong cuppa.
Have you made alt-milks? What’s your favorite non-dairy milk, and why do you drink it?
[Image by me.blogger via Creative Commons]
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we still use soy milk in our coffe and to cook with on occasion (relatively flavor-neutral).
my kids weaned to tempt hempmilk. they must have only had sweetened when my son started and now he refuses anything else. my daughter is on unsweetened.
we tried to use hempmilk in our coffee, but it would separate quickly. i think they’ve changed it somehow in the meantime. it doesn’t separate anymore and i swear it has a different flavor/smell. it’s also a stronger flavor than soymilk. i do like to use it when making pancakes and peanut butter-banana “ice cream”.
i hope to some day start making my own milk. it’s on the long list of things i would like to start doing some day.
I have made almond milk. It definitely worked out better when I made it in the Blendtec blender at work, but my home blender did a pretty good job. If I wanted some sweetness I’d soak a few pitted dates at the same time and blend them in. You can leave in the ground nuts (good on cereal) or strain them out and add them to things you back.
I don’t buy a lot of real milk for our house, we just don’t use it. I do have a bag of Organic Valley dry milk I got at Whole Foods. I mix up a cup in an old peanut butter jar, for when I do need milk. If you’re only using it for your coffee, that might be a way to use the kind of milk that is not easily available in your area. I know dry goats milk is also available.
Homemade almond milk is delicious! I strained it with cheese cloth folded over on itself a few times. Add a little vanilla and it’s like ice cream on your cereal or oatmeal. A little exaggeration but it is good. It’s expensive, though, if you’re using organic almonds. I want to try oat milk since it will be cheaper. In the meantime I switch between almond and soy milk depending on if it’s me or my partner shopping.
back = bake
I made almond milk once, and by ‘mistake’ I made it a bit too concentrated, because I added less water. But to my discovery, it worked very very well with my black tea. It wasn’t too watery and it did add the heavy body and whiteness and even that bit of oilyness that regular milk has.