Oat Milk
Although I savor the occasional glass of grass-fed animal milk (raw if I can get it), I’m also a big fan of non-dairy milks. They’re a nice change of pace, for one thing, and there are endless varieties of them: rice, oat, hazelnut, hemp, almond…it seems like almost any nut, seed or grain can be made into milk. (I do, however, avoid soy milk for three reasons: soy is in everything, which means that we eat too much of it; 70% of the U.S. soy crop is genetically modified and I’d rather not contribute to Monsanto’s profit margin; and I don’t like the flavor of soy milk, not even the organic kind.) Besides, since there are more varieties of non-dairy milks, they sometimes complement the flavor of baked goods better than dairy milk does–make pumpkin bread with almond milk, for example, or blueberry muffins with oat milk. Hot chocolate made with hazelnut milk is fantastic.
But the last time I was perusing the list of ingredients on a package of non-dairy milk, it occurred to me that I could probably make my own. Thanks to the coffee/spice/flour grinder I just bought, I can grind my own grains to a fairly fine consistency. Here’s what I threw together:
Oat Milk
1/4 cup groats (whole oats), ground fine
1-2 T. honey (start with one, taste, then add the second if you would like your milk sweeter)
pinch of sea salt
cinnamon (optional)
Put these ingredients in a screw-top jar (I used an empty 24-oz. jar of applesauce) and shake thoroughly. You’ve just made non-dairy milk! It will store in the refrigerator for a week. (You can keep it longer than a week, but it will begin to taste a bit stale. Besides, it tastes so much fresher than a container of store-bought oat milk that I guarantee it’ll be gone well before the week is out!)
Note: the ground oats will settle to the bottom, so you’ll either have to shake the jar before pouring and then not mind the ground oats re-settling (think of them as an oatmeal bonus) or you can pour off the liquid and leave the solid oats behind. Personally, I’m a fan of dregs–the pulp from the orange juice, the bits of cocoa clinging to the mug of hot chocolate–so I enjoy the sedimentary oats. Do whichever suits your taste.
Final note: you can replicate this recipe with any type of dry grain, nut, or seed–just be sure to grind them fresh right before mixing. I made almond milk the next day with equally fantastic results. Next up: millet milk!
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Tags: almond, hazelnut, non-dairy milk, oat, rice
