Tuesday, April 12, 2011

Mommy Makes Milk! - Part Two

As promised, today's experiment was hemp milk. Hemp milk is supposedly one of the most nutritious for you, so of course, I had to try it. I've had commercial hemp milk before, and I wasn't that impressed. It was really thick and very - hemp-like. I know, duh, right? But it was a little strange to me. Now I must say, the homemade stuff - much better! It wasn't as thick, but still had a nice creamy consistency, and tasted lighter and slightly sweet, even without sweetener. I had a bit of a mishap when, as I was almost done straining it, my muslin bag burst open and I had to start over. The lesson - squeeze gently and have patience. The hemp seeds sort of mash up against the muslin and it takes longer to strain than, say, almond milk with its crumbly pulp that allows liquid to flow right through it.

Another nice thing about hemp milk is there's no need to soak the seeds, so not a lot of prep time :) Here's how I did it:

Hemp Milk

1/2 cup hemp seeds
3 cups water

Equipment:
Blender
Muslin bag for straining
4-cup measuring cup or bowl

Place hemp seeds and water into blender and blend on highest setting for 1-2 minutes, until seeds are finely ground and mixture is well-blended and milky. Put muslin bag into measuring cup or bowl and pour in mixture. Strain by gently squeezing and milking the bag until no liquid remains. You will be left with a mash of hemp seed residue on the inside of the bag, like this:



Yum. Ok, so I just rinsed this away, since I don't know if there's anything I can do with it.

And the result:


Yay! Homemade hemp milk in no time at all! Hemp seeds are not cheap - about $21 a pound - but it cost me only about $2.50 to make 3 cups of hemp milk, so not bad really. Cheaper than buying it, and so much tastier!

No comments:

Post a Comment