Easy to liquefy nut, grain, soy, or seed 'milk' - making dairy alternatives in your blender

June 5, 11:58 AMSacramento Nutrition ExaminerAnne Hart

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Perfect for liquids are these recipes for blending your own almond, chia seed, soy, hemp, rice, oat, hazelnut, walnut, cashew, sesame, sunflower, peanut, brazil nut, pecan, pistachio, or flax seed 'milks.' Highly recommended blender is the Vita-Mix, but any blender set on liquefy will do.

Chia seed 'milk,' gel, or puddings

How about a glass of organic white chia seed dairy alternative 'milk?' According to the Raw Glow site, "Chia seed's mucilaginous fibers make a barrier in the stomach between carbohydrates and digestive enzymes."

The "soluble fiber in chia seeds "stabilizes blood sugar" by helping you "avoid the surges" of highs and lows. To make chia seed milk or pudding, first soak the chia seeds in liquid. Then "add a tablespoon" to your nut or grain smoothies. The white chia seeds turns smoothies into "a tapioca-like" consistency. Serve soaked chia seeds gel as a pudding.

Chia seeds also can be used as a dessert. Or you can dilute the pudding with other grain, seed, and nut milks, or any liquid until you get a smoothie with a milky consistency. Order a pound of organic white chia seeds at the Raw Glow site.

Historically, chia seeds were used by the Aztecs to sustain vigor while traveling by foot. They'd eat only a teaspoon amount before going on a long run. Don't eat any more or the gel will expand too much in your stomach. You'd get an overly full sensation.

When you add tablespoon of white chia seeds to a glass of water, in a half hour, the seeds will form an almost solid gelatin. One alternative is to drink the chia seed gelatin before meal times. Add the gel to other nut or grain milks. Never eat more than 1 tablespoon of Chia seeds at a time.

Only eat chia seeds after they have been soaked (hydrated) in water or other liquid for at least a half an hour.  Chia seeds are helpful in balancing your blood sugar levels. Talk to your doctor if you're diabetic to see whether chia seeds are right for your individual metabolism.

Using Your Own Nut, Grain, Seed, and Soy Nondairy Alternatives

Make your own nondairy 'milk' substitutes from nuts, soy, oats, brown rice, hemp, almonds, hazelnuts, walnuts, sesame, sunflower seeds, or peanuts and peanut butter. The Living and Raw Foods site also has posted a recipe for making your own vanilla almond 'milk,' courtesy of Cecilia Benjumea. 

Vegan nondairy milk substitues are referred to as 'milks.' Dairy alternative milk substitues can be used in baking in place of milk or turned into cheese, kefir, or yogurt by adding yogurt cultures. Please don't feed infants milk substitues. Babies need real milk, unless their allergies are such that a pediatrician prescribes other types of alternatives with the correct amount and balance of nutrients infants need. But for your own nondairy milk, cheese, yogurt, or kefir alternatives, you can make nondairy beverages if you are able to find in health food stores the correct culture for fermenting your nondairy alternative to 'milk.'

For making plain or sweetened nut, seed, or grain milks, you can use a mixture of almonds and other nuts or seeds. To sweeten, just add a handful of cherries, strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, dried cranberries, dates, figs, or other dried fruits. Or add half of a banana and/or sliced mangos.

Almond Milk and other Nut or Seed Dairy Alternatives You Can Use Instead of Milk
Soak a half cup of whole raw almonds (with the skins on) in a quart jar of water in your refrigerator for at least six hours. Pour out the water and pour a fresh quart of filtered water into your blender. Add the soaked almonds and liquefy in your blender. You do not need to sweeten almond milk.

If you want to sweeten the almond milk, add a half cup of cherries, strawberries, figs, or raspberries, sliced mangos, a banana, a half cup of sliced melon, or your favorite sweetener, such as a tablespoon of honey, blackstrap molasses, apple juice concentrate, pomegranate juice, or maple syrup.

Or make almond 'milk' unsweetened to keep your blood glucose at a sane level so you drink as much almond milk as is healthful for you and still feel comfortable. For those who want to sweeten the almond ‘milk,’ dried fruit such as a tablespoon of raisins or chopped, pitted dates or prunes may be added to the blender to flavor the almond milk. But these do add a lot of calories. I drink unsweetened almond milk.

As an alternative to a sweetener for almond milk, spices also may be used. For example, add a quarter teaspoon of ground cinnamon and a quarter teaspoon of ground cloves. You could also add a quarter teaspoon of ground turmeric and a quarter teaspoon of ground ginger instead of sweeteners along with the cinnamon and cloves.

Almonds may be mixed with a handful of ground roasted peanuts, or the same quantity of sesame seeds, walnuts, hazelnuts, or a tablespoon of sunflower seeds, pecans, cashew nuts, or any other type of nuts. Brazil nuts especially are a nutritious choice. Blend the almonds with a variety of nuts.

You can buy already made hemp milk, hazelnut milk, rice milk, almond milk, and oat milk. The problem is that in the ready-made milks sold commercially, salt is added along with other items you may not want, and unless you buy unsweetened soy milk, the hemp and hazelnut or almond and rice milks usually add sugar or other sweeteners rather than fresh fruit.

Commercial nut , seed, and grain milks may stand for months on a supermarket shelf and contain ingredients you may not want such as salt or sweeteners. It’s cheaper to make your own nondairy ‘milks’ from a package of raw almonds or other nuts, cooked beans, or grains.

Grain Milks
To make brown rice 'milk,' hemp 'milk,' or oat 'milk,' add an extra quart or two of water. And cook brown rice, hemp, or oatmeal according to directions on the package. For rice milk, cook a cup of brown rice in a quart of water. When the rice is soft, but water is left over in the pot, cool the mixture. Then pour the contents into your blender. Blend with the water, adding more water to make at least a quart or more of liquefied rice and water thin enough to look like the consistency of milk. 

Add more water if it is still too thick. You want the consistency of milk. If you want to sweeten, add sweet fruit such as berries or a banana or dried fruit. If desired, add a tablespoon or two of apple juice concentrate. If you prefer spices instead of sweeteners, add cinnamon and cloves. You also can add sliced ginger or if you want spice and sweeteners, use raisins and cinnamon.

To make oat or hemp 'milk,' cook one cup of grains to two or three cups of water until soft, but some water is left in the pot. Add more water if desired to thin the mixture. Blend until liquefied. Add enough water to thin your mixture to a milk consistency. You can add fruit in your blender, about a half cup of berries such as cherries, strawberries, or raspberries or a banana.
Or sweeten with dried fruit such as raisins, dates, figs, nectarines, or prunes.

Add spices such as cinnamon and cloves or ginger. Grains are cooked pretty much the same in water, like a porridge, and then liquefied in your blender. Water us added until you get the consistency of milk. Store it for up to three days in your refrigerator.

Seed 'Milks' - Flax seed milk
Milk can be made from flax seed, sunflower seeds, or sesame seeds when mixed with nut milks, such as almond milk. Blend two or three tablespoons of flax seeds, sunflower seeds, or sesame seeds with a half cup of almonds in a quart of water.
Add any spices you prefer or dried fruit sweeteners. Also you can sweeten with sliced ripe mangos or a banana. Since flax seeds coagulate into a pudding texture within an hour of liquefying in a blender, drink the flax seed milk as soon as possible after making this kind of smoothie.

Sesame Seed 'Milks' and Tahini Sauce or Dip
When sesame seeds are blended with water, lemon juice, and extra virgin olive oil, you can add your own preferred spices and herbs such as turmeric, garlic, onion, chopped parsley, mint, or coriander and turn it into tahini sauce, a crushed sesame seed paste to use as a dip on toasted flat bread or as a sauce over baked fish.

When sesame seeds are added to almonds and blended with water, you have a thicker almond milk, also tasty. Turn this into a smoothie by adding a banana and berries or mango and substitute cherry juice for the water to make a sweet shake. Add a scoop of rice protein powder, and drink.

When sesame seeds are blended with honey, olive oil, and water, you have a candy similar to 'halvah,' or a sweet spread on toast or crackers. If you want a change from dairy, try making 'milks' from seeds, nuts or grains.

Blend the seeds with almonds, peanuts, brazil nuts, cashews, hazelnuts, or pecans, but serve the grain milks without mixing them with any seeds or nuts. Grain milks are mixed with water and consumed alone or with added fruit as sweeteners such as berries, mangos, a banana, or dried fruit. Don't mix oat or rice milk with nut milks or seeds.

Soy Milk
To make soy 'milk,' begin by soaking a half cup of organic, non-genetically altered soy beans for at least six hours in a pint of water in your refrigerator. After soaking, hold the jar over a strainer, and spill out the water from the jar of soaked beans. Then fill a pot with a quart of fresh, filtered water and cook (bring to a gentle boil) the soaked soy beans, simmering for 20 minutes.

Cool the cooked soy beans and water. Put the beans in your blender with the cooled water. I prefer to use a Vita-Mix blender. Set the speed of the blender to liquefy or ice crush. You can buy a soy 'milk'-making machine. I found that my  soy-making machine takes a long time to clean. It's probably cheaper and quicker to make it in your blender. That's why I prefer my Vita-Mix, still working since I bought it in 1993 at a state fair and cleans in seconds.

Liquefy the soaked soy beans in the water. Finally, strain the soy milk made in your blender. Use a fine or tea strainer or cheesecloth used for straining the curd or residue from various food products. Strain out the ‘pulp’ left over from the soy beans. Use the opaque liquid ‘milk’ left over.

Soy milk should be smooth. It shouldn’t have a lot of those grainy bits of grounded up soy beans at the bottom after straining through the cheesecloth or fine strainer. Store the fresh soy milk in your refrigerator in a covered glass container. It can be used for up to three days in the refrigerator. If you want to buy a soy milk making machine, check out the SoyaJoy and SoyaPower soy milk makers at factory-direct prices. See Soy Kits.com, an information site on soy milk-making machines.

I sometimes add a quarter cup of dark red cherries to my soy milk before liquefying the cooked soy beans in a blender. You don't have to sweeten or add any other fruit or spice to soy milk. It probably will last longer in your refrigerator if you don't add any fruit. But it tastes great over a bowl of fruit or whole grains. It's also wonderful on cereals topped with home-made dried cranberries. Don't drink soy milk if you have a thyroid condition that is affected by soy. Soy stimulates the thyroid. 

See the video and recipe for making chia seed pudding with nectar at the bottom of this article. Scroll down to the bottom.  

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 Chia Seed Pudding Recipe Video