plant milk

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How to prepare plant milk?

Plant drink is a preparation made from nuts or cereals. When homemade, it provides many benefits not only for our health but also for the environment.
First, plant milks available in stores often contain very large quantities of water (the proportion of nuts or cereals is only 2.3 to 8% whereas in homemade preparations the proportion of nuts or cereals is between 12.5 and 25%).
The ingredients list of commercial preparations also often shows the presence of additives (salt, emulsifiers, thickeners, guar gum, carrageenan ... and added sugars).
Among the plant milks, soy milk is the best known but I do not recommend it, especially for children. Soya is a very modified seed and we do not know all the effects of its consumption on the long term (Asians do not consume soya in the form of milk but in the form of tofu or fermented soya preparations).
The other main plant drinks are prepared from oilseeds (cashew nuts, almonds, hazelnuts...) or cereals (oats, rice).

Realization of a plant milk

Choose raw organic nuts, not grilled or salted. 
The ratio to be used is 1 dose of nuts/cereals to 4 doses of water.​

Soak the nuts for 3 hours to 12 hours depending on the type of nuts you are using. Softer nuts like cashews nut  need to be soaked for a shorter time than almonds. 

Drain and rince very well to remove phytates (check my article: why-and-how-to-soak-nuts-and-seeds.html)

Blend with fresh water for 1 minute using 1 cup of raw nuts to 4 cups of fresh water. 

Line a container with a milk bag. If you don't have one you can use a fine-mesh strainer lined with cheesecloth as an easy alternative

Pour the preparation and squeeze the bag to squeeze out as much liquid as possible. 

The bag will be left with the pulp, the pulp can be used fresh in cakes, cookies, .... or dried for later use (cashew milk does not produce a lot of pulp and can be used.... without straining.
The fresh drink can be stored in the fridge for a few days.

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Oat drink is prepared in using the same method. The oat flakes are soaked for about 12 hours and rinsed well.
To make the rice milk, soak the raw rice for about 12 hours, drain and rinse well before cooking it for 10-15 minutes in clear water, leave the preparation to stand for 1 hour, then blend and filter.

Each plant milk has different properties, so I recommend alternating their consumption.