How To Make Plant-Based Milk at Home
Plus, 3 recipes from the founders of Honey's Ice Cream, Nutbar, and Greenhouse Juice Co.
This week has been busy with two birthday celebrations, a newborn baby in the family, listening to Lorde’s Talking Heads’ cover of Al Green’s “Take Me to the River,” and the long weekend, so I’m sharing an old piece I wrote for Chatelaine about how to make plant-based milk at home.
In this article, I also spoke to some of my favourite cafes and local businesses, who kindly shared their plant-based milk recipes. Each of them, in the words of Lady Gaga, is “brilliant, incredible, amazing, showstopping, spectacular,” and yet so simple, so I hope you try to make them at home.
I just did a 40-minute workout listening to this song on repeat, and I’m still listening to it now. Overkill? Not for me, baby! Thank you, A24!
Before they were sold at grocery stores, plant-based milks had been around for centuries and were staples in various cuisines. Take soy milk, for example: In China, where this beverage originated, it’s not uncommon to make your own to use in cooking or to drink for breakfast. Coconut milk also has a long history, and is a key ingredient in Filipino dishes, Thai curries, Vietnamese desserts and Caribbean stews.
There are also other plant-based milks that have been around for only a few decades, like oat milk. It was first commercially developed in the early ’90s by Swedish scientist Rickard Öste, who was looking for a dairy-free alternative for people with lactose intolerance and allergies.
Besides producing fewer greenhouse gases than dairy, plant-based milks also offer health benefits. Nuts, grains and seeds (such as almonds, cashews, oats and hemp) are sources of fibre; soy is high in protein; and coconut is packed with antioxidants and medium-chain fatty acids, which can support digestion.
Tri Ngo and Hang Vu from Rustle & Still, a Toronto café, say they opt for coconut milk in their desserts and coffee-based drinks because they love its depth of flavour and texture. It also adds a creaminess that you don’t get from whole milk. In other words, their preference isn’t intentionally vegan; that just happens to be a benefit.
Making your own plant-based milks allows you to adjust the flavor and texture to your liking—and most are quite easy to DIY. With a few staple ingredients and tools, you can make dairy-free milk to use in all sorts of cooking and baking. We asked three Canadian food-business owners who regularly make their own for their recipes and tips.
Here’s what you’ll need
Blender
Fine-mesh strainer
Cheesecloth
Large bowl
Cashew Milk
Raw unsalted cashews are key to good homemade cashew milk, says Ashley Wittig, founder of Honey’s, a plant-based ice cream shop in Toronto. For a creamier texture–ideal for sauces or soups—she recommends reducing the water to three cups. Wittig combines cashew and coconut milks to create luscious ice creams that will make you forget all about the dairy-based kind.
Ingredients
4 cups water
1 cup raw unsalted cashews
1 tablespoon maple syrup, or to taste, optional
Pinch of salt, optional
Instructions
If you have a powerful blender (a high-speed one with a few blending options), combine water, cashews, maple syrup and salt, and blend on high until smooth.
If you have a not-so-powerful blender (a slower-speed one with no blending options), soak cashews in water for at least 2 hours (or overnight) in the refrigerator. Strain and follow the instructions above.
Store in an airtight bottle or jar in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.
Oat Milk
Kate Taylor Martin, owner of Toronto-based Nutbar, says oat milk is probably the least straightforward plant-based milk to make at home, because it can turn gooey if you use too-warm water, or if you over blend, or if you heat it up. However, homemade oat milk tastes great if you chill and use it soon after you make it. Depending on your preference or what you’re using your oat milk for (Martin enjoys hers in smoothies), she recommends adding a pinch of sea salt, a dash of vanilla and/or maple syrup, or even a pinch of cinnamon.
Ingredients
4 cups very cold water
1 cup organic rolled oats
Vanilla extract, to taste
Maple syrup, to taste
Pinch of sea salt, optional
Pinch of cinnamon, optional
Instructions
In a blender, combine water, oats, vanilla extract, maple syrup, sea salt (optional), and cinnamon (optional), and blend on high for no more than 20 seconds.
Place a fine-mesh strainer lined with cheesecloth over a large bowl. Slowly pour the oat mixture into the centre of the strainer and let drain until only the pulp remains. If there are oat pieces in the strained liquid, strain again.
Chill and use immediately.
Almond Milk
Sourcing organic where possible is important to Emma Knight, co-founder of Greenhouse Juice Co., which sells its organic beverages in grocery stores across Canada. “Conventional crops are sprayed with pesticides and herbicides that end up in the drink, and organic crops are better for the health of the soil,” she says. Aside from almond milk, her family also makes their own oat milk, which she recommends, as Canada is a large agricultural producer of oats, and as a crop they require less water than almonds.
Ingredients
3 cups filtered water, divided
2 cups raw almonds
4 Medjool dates, pitted and chopped
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract, or 1 vanilla bean, halved lengthwise, seeds scraped out and set aside
1 tablespoon coconut oil, optional
Pinch of sea salt, optional
Instructions
In a blender, combine 1 cup water, almonds, dates, vanilla, coconut oil and salt. Blend on low until combined.
Add the remaining 2 cups water and then blend for another minute or until smooth.
To strain, place a large fine-mesh strainer lined with 2 layers of cheesecloth over a large bowl, making sure there’s enough cloth hanging over the edges that you can gather the ends and create a pouch.
Pour half of the blended mixture into the centre of the cheesecloth, and then gather the ends to create a pouch. Squeeze the almond milk through the strainer and into the bowl.
Empty the remaining fibre (you can save it to make protein bars) into another container, then repeat the process with the remaining mixture.
Serve chilled, or seal in an airtight bottle or jar and keep in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.