Homemade milk

You know the team building activity Three Truths and a Lie?  I LOVE playing that game, I really get a kick out of it.  You should see the looks I get when I put "I make homemade milk" on a card and inform everyone that is one of my truths and no, I am not nursing my son - people usually go there.  This is one of the things that I do that seems to interest people the most.  I don't think it is too time consuming, it isn't expensive, and the milk tastes delicious.  We think it is just as creamy as the milk in the store, and I think it tastes better.

I make our milk because O had difficulty digesting cow or goat milk when he was younger and we haven't switched back.  I am not impressed with all of the hormones in animal milk nor am I impressed with the cost of organic milk.  I like knowing what we are drinking, no questions asked.

I'm in the process of doing a cost comparison and will post that information as soon as I have it.  Here is my rough estimate:  I bought 4.5 pounds of organic coconut ($2.99/pound).  I use approximately 4 ounces of coconut for a quart of milk.  4 ounces = .25 pounds.  That means my 4.5 pounds will make approximately 18 quarts of milk.  That's the equivalent of 4.5 gallons.  If you pay $5.99 gallon for organic milk = $26.96.  I paid $13.45 for my coconut.

I make coconut, hemp, almond, and pistachio milk for our family. I will try cashew sometime soon.  The ratios are the same for coconut, almond, pistachio, and cashew milk (4 cups water to 1.5/2 cups coconut/almond/pistacho/cashew).  For hemp milk, it's 3 cups water to 1/2 cup hemp seeds.

Here is how I do it:

1.5 to 2 cups coconut
3-4 dates
4 cups of warm water
1 nut milk bag
blender

Put all ingredients in the blender and blend on high.  With the Vitamix, you start with it on 1 variable, move up to 10, and turn it on high for 1 minute.  We used a Kitchenaid blender before we got this beautiful piece of machinery and I had to blend it on high for 2-3 minutes.  If you are considering getting a new blender, I highly recommend the Vitamix.  It is AMAZING!

After 1 minute

Now you need to strain the milk.  I use a nut milk bag attached to the inside of our microwave and a bowl.  This is the easiest way for me to strain milk, I can even leave it to do something else.  Before we had the nut milk bag, I used a fine mesh strainer.  The milk is much creamier with the nut milk bag.

Make sure you get all of the liquid out of the milk (gently squeeze and twist the nut milk bag).  Your hands will feel luxurious because of the oil in the coconut.

When all of the milk has been strained, pour it into a container and then store it in the refrigerator.  This should stay fresh for 3-5 days, ours never lasts that long though.  

After your milk has cooled, you will have a layer of cream at the top.  I gently push down on the cream to break it in half, remove it from the jar, and put it in another container in the refrigerator.  I use this as cream in baking or for a quick moisturizer. If I were a coffee drinker, I can imagine I would use the cream in my coffee.  *The cream at the top only happens with coconut milk.

An added benefit of making your own milk, flour!  After you strain the milk, you will have coconut meal in your nut milk bag.  You can make coconut (or almond) flour in no time with the remaining meal.

This is the meal straight from the nut milk bag.  I put it in the oven on 200 for about 1 hour to dry it out.

Then I put it in our food processor to get the large lumps out.

When it is ready, I put it in the freezer to use in pancakes or when I'm baking.  Actually, I give most of it to the woman who watches O during the week because she bakes so much for the kids.

Once you get the hang of making milk, it's really easy!  You can add vanilla extract or a vanilla bean for a different flavor.  During the winter, aka cold season, I added a half of a cinnamon stick to our milk for a decadent taste and all the added benefits from cinnamon.

Enjoy!!