In today’s society, we often depend on milk in our everyday lives, whether it’s your cereal in the morning or a simple glass to accompany your pancakes with. I’m glad to tell you that there are a variety of plant based milks on the market today, although from a technical standpoint, they’re plant based water lol. Nevertheless, they taste great and come in many forms so if you have certain allergies such as soy or nut allergies, there are still plenty to choose from. The pictures used in this article come Sprouts Farmers Market.
The different types of milk
Plant based milks are made by blending a base of nut, seed or bean with water, running it through a strainer and adding sugar (unless you want it unsweetened). At the time of this article, there are more then 10 different plant based milks. This includes almond, cashew, macadamia nut, hazelnut, walnut, flax, hemp seed, soy, oats, rice, coconut, and pea. Each one offers it’s own unique taste. Almost every version of these milks comes in different flavors, the standard being regular, vanilla and chocolate. In addition to these different flavors, they often come in both sweetened and unsweetened. When you combine these, the type you want is for the picking! For example, if you want unsweetened cashew milk, while your friend wants sweetened chocolate milk, both are available!
Unfortunately, not all of them may be around the corner. Common vegan milks such as almond, soy, and coconut milk can pretty much be found at any major chain retail store such as Walmart, Kroger and Tom Thumb. Cashew, macadamia nut, hazelnut, walnut, flax seed, hemp seed, oats, rice, and pea milk are found in mostly in health food stores such as Whole Foods, Sprouts, and Trader Joes. Cashew and rice milks are showing a trend of appearing in all stores but for the time being, they are more sure to be found in the health food stores.
Not all milks and brands are created equally. Many brands such as Sprouts, and Coconut dream fortify their milks with nutrients such as vitamin d and vitamin b12. This could make these brands more valuable to you if you’re looking to increase the amount of these nutrients in your diet. Some will say on the front that it is fortified with certain nutrients and some do not.
If you’re uncertain, you can check the ingredients and see if the nutrients are listed..
You can also make your own vegan milk. All you need is a base (nut, seed, grain, bean, etc), a sweetener (optional: omit if you want unsweetened), a strainer and water. Nuts, grains and seeds need to be soaked over night. Coconuts and bananas can be used fresh in most cases. There are many sweeteners to choose from such as maple syrup, blue agave, coconut nectar, coconut sugar, and cocoa or carob (If you want chocolate), just to name a few. Feel free to play around with the amounts. If you want you milk thicker, use less water. If you want it thinner, use more water, etc. There are plenty of You Tube videos showing how to make plant based milk. Use this as a guideline and play around with it until you get the recipe and result you want.
Surely you’re glad to see that there are many vegan alternatives to cows’ milk. If you find this content valuable, a like and share is greatly appreciated. Thanks for reading!