Vegan Milk Part V: Sunflower Power

My other vegan milks:
Part I: Hemp
Part II: Almond
Part III: Rice
Part IV: Flax
Wow, I cannot believe I am already on my fifth non-dairy milk test. This weekend I decided to attempt another seed milk. The flax milk I think was about a 80% success, so I am striving for more. Instead of looking for something online, I looked to my cupboard. I have no urge to be running to the grocery store, so I needed something that I already keep in stock. This is when I stumbled upon a large jar of sunflower seeds.

What a great idea for milk. I doubt I am the first to come up with it, but I am surprised this one is done more. If I could describe this milk, I would say it is a bit more savoury. I did not sweeten the recipe this time, but I think it would be a good addition if you are looking for a taste that is closer to what you find in the store.

Sunflower seeds are really good for you too. They have lots of vitamin E, magnesium and selenium. They also have phytosterols which can help lower cholesterol. Because of the high vitamin E (1/4 cup gives you 90% of your daily intake), sunflower seeds are known to known to reduce the risk of heart attack, stroke and some cancers. Not bad for a little seed!

Best of all, they are cheap! For those on a budget, this milk cost me approximately $0.35. I buy the seeds in bulk and it doesn't take much to get a litre of milk. That is a savings that can add up over time.

So here is the recipe. It is very similar to the other seed and nut milk.

Sunflower Power Milk
Makes about 1 litre

• 1 cup of shelled, raw, unsalted sunflower seeds
• about 3 - 3 1/2 cups of water (judge on how thick you like your milk. 3 cups is similar to 1% dairy)
• dash of salt
• Sweetener (optional, I didn't use one) - e.g. date, maple syrup, sugar, agave

First, rinse the seeds and soak them for 8 - 12 hours. Once soaked, drain the seeds and pout into a blender. Add to the blender the remaining ingredients and blend for 2 minutes or until you can't see seeds anymore. While the mixture is blending, set-up your straining station: Take a large bowl and rest a small-hole strainer inside. Cover the inside of the strainer with cheesecloth, long enough that it hangs over the sides of the strainer

Once the mixture is completely blended, pout it through the strainer. Let it rest a minute or two and then you can lift the corners of the cheese cloth up and squeeze the remaining liquid out.

Chill and serve.

Finally a milk with good consistency and flavour! This milk looked and poured much closer to the almond milk I made previously. Since I didn't sweeten it, the taste was a bit on the earthy, savoury side. If you let this milk sit, it will separate, so keep in a container with a tightly sealed lid so you can shake it up. I found this milk to be very tasty and could even drink it on its own. I made some muffins with it, and they were really good! I have also used it in a smoothie and it was a welcomed addition.

A cheap alternative to almond and soy milk. This is worth a try. Highly recommended!

Vegan Milk Part IV: Flax-tastic!

Other vegan milks:
Part I: Hemp
Part II: Almond
Part III: Rice


Now that I have made three somewhat decent non-dairy milks, I decided to try something a little different and make a flax seed milk. It seemed like to make a non-dairy milk you really just need a seed or nut, soak it overnice and then process with water and strain. The hemp and almond milk were really good. The rice milk was not quite perfect the first time I made it with short grain rice, but switching to long grain and it worked really well.

I figured I should start experimenting. My experiment today was flax seed milk. Now looking back, I should have saw this happen. When I soaked the flax seed overnight, the result was very similar to a flax egg. (more on flax eggs here). It was gooey and sticky and immediately thought that it probably wouldn't make the best milk.

©iStockphoto.com/Eric Naud

However, I followed through and finished the recipe. Here it is:

Flax Milk

• 1/2 cup flax seeds
• 3 cups water
• dash of salt
• 1 tsp of maple syrup

As with the other milks, take your seeds and soak them for 8-12 hours. Next, drain them and add them to your blender with the water, salt and maple syrup. Blend on high for 3-4 minutes or until it is smooth. While it's blending set up the straining system (Large bowl with a strain resting inside, cheese cloth covering the inside of the strainer.

pour the flax mixture through the cheese cloth and let it strain. You can pull up the corners of the cloth and squeeze the liquid through. Once strained, test and adjust the sugar and the add more water if it is too thick.

So, I am undecided on this one. I found the end result to be a bit sticky. It would not be a milk I would put on cereal or just drink a glass of. On the other hand, this was really cheap to make (About $2 to get enough seeds to make a litre of milk) and it worked well in my smoothie and in a muffin recipe I made.

I guess in the end it depends on what you use milk for. So far, if I wanted a milk that was an all-purpose and could drink a glass of, bake with, and use in a cereal, the Almond is my favourite so far. However, I really use my non-dairy milks for smoothies more than anything and it has been fun switching it up. The flax milk provides a lot of nutrients at a low cost. It's high in omega-3 and has been thought to lower cholesterol. It is high in fibre and people think that it has disease fighting power! It has a unique taste and was a great addition to my morning smoothie. So if you can get over the funny consistency, give this one a try!

Up next in the non-dairy milk... Sunflower seed!

Vegan Milk Part II: Almond Joy!

Click here for Vegan Milk Part I

With the hemp milk being a success, I was stoked to try the next non-dairy milk: almond. I had done a bit of reading up on almond milk and found a recipe that promises the milk won't separate which is great. Most, if not all raw milks do separate if they are left to sit in the fridge. The hemp milk did, but a quick shake before serving is the easy solution to this.

Almond milk is also really easy to make and a very similar process to making the hemp. There is a bit more work involved because you need to remove the skins from the almonds and soak them for a long time. I wouldn't say it was labour intensive, but I couldn't just whip up a batch of almond milk on the fly.

Even so, I liked this milk a lot. It was rich, smooth and creamy. I found it was much closer to drinking animal milk, so if you are going for something that is close to the consistency of dairy milk, this may be the drink for you.

Homemade Almond Milk
- about 1 to 1 1/2 cups of almonds
- 4 cups of water
- dash of salt
- 2 tsp maple syrup
- cheese cloth

First, you need to blanch the almonds. Pour a large bowl of icy water and set aside. Boil 2 cups of water and then add the almonds. Let boil for about 1 min and be careful not to over cook. You want the almonds to not go soft. Remove from heat, strain and dump the almonds in the cold water bath and let sit a couple of minutes.




Next, you want to remove the skins from the almonds. Super easy to do. Strain the almonds out of the cold water and put back in the bowl. Have a garbage bowl handy. Take an almond and pinch and wiggle it a bit in your fingers. The skin should come right off. Skin the rest of the almonds.



Now cover the skinned almonds with water and let sit for 8 - 12 hours. Strain the almonds from the soaking water and put in a blender. Add 2 cups of water, sweetener and the salt and blend the crap out of it (2 - 3 min on high). While blending, set up the straining station. Have a large bowl that holds 6 + cups of water and rest a strainer in it. Put cheese cloth in the strainer so that the edges hang over a bit.

Once the mixture is blended, pour it through the cheese cloth and then squeeze as much liquid as you can out of it. Once all the liquid is drained, put the pureed almonds in the cheese cloth back into the blender and and add 2 more cups of water and blend again for 2 - 3 minutes and repeat the straining process. If the milk is too thick, then add more water.

This recipe makes consistency of a 2% milk.


Now, if you want to try to make the milk not separate, pour the almond milk into a large pot and simmer for 15 minutes. Then pour into container with a tight seal and chill.

That's it! See how this is a bit more labour intensive? really there is nothing difficult about this recipe, but you need to be thinking ahead. So far this has been my favour of the two. I think the homemade recipe is much better than store bought whereas the hemp was on par with store bought.



Oh, and if you want, save the residue that is in the cheese cloth. If you can dry this out and put it back int he food processor, you will have almond flour! I imagine this will make good cookies. I saved mine and will keep you posted.



I will definitely be making this again. I think next time, I might add some cinnamon to it. I think that would be an amazing addition.

OK - Coming up next... Rice Milk!

I am looking for some other non-dairy milks to attempts, so if you know of any please comment!

Vegan Milk Part I: Hemp

Photo Credit: greenmillet.blogspot.com

Before I was vegan, dropping cow's milk from my diet was one of my biggest fears. I was a cow's milk junkie. I drank easily 4-6 litres a week. I drank it with everything, put it in my coffee, black tea, cereal. I assumed when began the 30 day vegan challenge that I would last maybe a day or two and would never get close to making it a month. I discovered after making the switch that it wasn't milk that I needed so badly. I was just thirsty. I switched milk for water as my go-to drink and it worked like a charm.

Once I had committed to being vegan, I started looking into non-dairy milks to introduce back into my diet. Soy, rice, almond, cashew, coconut, hemp.. the options go on and on, but then I found the drawback.. Vegan milk is really expensive! It was time to look into a cheaper alternative. So here we are... homemade vegan milk.

I wanted to venture into this one slowly since I have never tried it before and I am not sure that I can get the taste to be as good as the pricey store bought products. I was looking for the easiest of the easy to start with and after a bit of research, I think I found it - Hemp milk!

Photo credit: http://www.rense.com/general49/could.htm 

Unlike many other vegan milks, you do not have to soak the hemp prior to processing it. To me, this makes it so much easier because you really just put everything in a blender and the strain it through cheese cloth. Remembering to soak things prior to blending is really difficult for me!

So, let's get to it.. the recipe:

Hemp Milk

•  1/2 cup shelled hemp seeds or hemp hearts
•  2 1/2 cups of water (This can be adjusted if you want it thinner or thicker)
•  1-2 dates (or any other sweetener, maple syrup or agave would work well)
•  1/4 tsp (or less) of salt
•  Cheese cloth

Put the hemp hearts and the water into a blender and blend at highest speed for about 2-3 minutes or until it is frothy. Add in the sweetener, salt and if you want a touch of vanilla. Continue to blend for another minute or so. I don't think you can over blend.

Set up a large bowl with a strainer inside it and cheese cloth in the strainer. Carefully pour the milk on to the cheese cloth being careful not to pout to fast. Let the milk strain through and once it slows down, pick up the ends of the cheese cloth and squeeze the milk down and through the cloth. When you get it all strained the cheese cloth will have gritty pulp from the seeds that you can toss out.

The set-up for straining

That's it! Chill it and then test it to make sure the sweetener was enough. I don't like to add too much to milks and find the natural flavour is what should stand out. If the milk is sitting for a while, it will start to separate. Just shake before using. It should last about 3-4 days in the fridge.

Hemp milk has a nutty and very earthy flavour. I find it is really good in coffee and tea, or on its own. I find that many recipes say to steer clear of hemp milk in baking, but I think it would work just fine. It is a bit thinner than a soy milk, but could probably be used anywhere that calls for non-fat.

Hemp milk is a good source of protein (about 5g) and iron. It does not have a lot of calcium in it. One glass has 110 - 150 calories approximately, depending on how much water you use.

 

Coming up next... Almond Milk!