Make your own oat drink and Co.
3 ways you can easily prepare plant-based milk at home
Vegan milk alternatives such as hazelnut, oat, almond and coconut drinks are becoming increasingly popular.
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Oat drinks have long been more than just a trend – many people rely on plant-based milk alternatives such as almond, hazelnut or coconut drinks. They are just usually more expensive than cow’s milk. We’ll show you 3 ways how you can make plant-based drinks cheaper and more sustainably at home.
The supermarket shelves are full of plant-based milk alternatives. A muesli with a hazelnut drink or a coffee with an oat drink also tastes simply delicious. But the high demand is also noticeable in the price: the plant drinks cost about twice as much as cow milk! Production at home is not only cheaper, it also saves on packaging and transport.
The basics for every no-cowboy
Plant-based milk can be made from Seeds, Grains and Nuts produce. The ingredients of the go-to varieties are oats, almonds, soybeans, hazelnuts or even hemp seeds. These are each a few hours or soaked in water overnight. However, if oatmeal is used, it should not be soaked beforehand, otherwise the milk can later become slimy. If necessary, you can also add dates for the sweetness and spices such as vanilla, cinnamon or nutmeg.
1. 1 minute nut milk
If you have to go quickly, this quick and easy method is ideal. Because you don’t have to prepare or soak anything for it. You need:
- Nut butter of your choice (1 tablespoon)
- Water (1l)
- mixer
- optional: spices, agave syrup / maple syrup
This is probably the easiest recipe in the world: Simply put the water with the nut butter and spices in the mixer and mix on the highest level for 30 seconds. Your nut milk is ready!
2. The most common method
Nut butter is quite expensive compared to the actual raw materials. So if you want to save a little more, you can use the most common method for preparing plant drinks. For this you need:
- Seeds, grains or nuts of your choice (3 tbsp)
- Water (1l)
- mixer
- Nut milk bag / straight-through cloth / fine kitchen towel
- optional: 1-2 dates for sweetening, spices
After you have soaked the raw materials in water, you pour away the soaking water. The nuts, grains or seeds are now put into the blender along with the dates, spices and a liter of fresh water, where you grind them for 30 seconds on the highest setting. In this case, a lot doesn’t help a lot: if you puree too long, the milk will later become slimy.
Now the nut milk bag is used, which you can also replace with a fine kitchen towel. Strain the mixture so that there is no residue in the drink later. Now it’s time to milk: At the end, squeeze the cloth properly – the more you squeeze, the creamier the drink will be. But here, too, there is again the risk that it will become slimy if “milked” too much. Now just decant, put the lid on and use it up in the next 2-3 days.
tip: Do not throw the squeezed-out mass (“pomace”) in the trash, but use it for baking, in muesli or for energy balls.
3. The luxurious plant-milk cow
If you don’t like getting your hands dirty, you can leave the milk preparation to a food processor. A “fully automatic machine” is a bit more expensive, but it is definitely worth it if you drink a lot of plant-based milk. By the way, you can use it to make not only the drink, but also vegan cream and buttermilk.
Each machine works a little differently, but the pureeing and straining is always done for you. If you make plant drinks yourself, you can also get really creative: Different raw materials can be combined with different spices. This is how you can create your very own plant-based milk alternative.