Experimenting with Seed Milks
Seed milk. If the name ‘nut milk’ sounds bad, seed milk sounds far worse. But don’t let the feeble name put you off… they are surprisingly tasty!
Nut milks are a great substitute for cow’s milk in smoothies (and whatever else your heart desires), and I often make cashew nut milk as a base for my smoothies (see recipe here). But nuts can be expensive, and seeds are often cheaper. Plus pumpkin seeds and sunflower seeds are delicious, which got me thinking…
I decided to experiment with making some different seed milks. So far I’ve made sesame, pumpkin and sunflower seed milk.
Recipe: How to Make Seed Milks
To make these, the procedure is the same. Soak one cup of seeds in water for a few hours, or preferably overnight. Drain and put in a blender with 3 cups of chilled water. Blend until smooth.
Next you need to strain. I used one of my produce bags made with a fine netting type material. You could also use muslin, or improvise with some other material. A fine sieve should work. I’m sure old tights would work too – but do make sure they’re clean first!
Drain the liquid into a bowl. Once the pulp is dry (squeeze any excess moisture out) pour the liquid into a glass bottle or jar and store in the fridge. It will keep for up to 5 days.
Sesame Seed Milk
This milk has quite a distinctive and strong flavour. If you love tahini and sesame then you’ll love it; if not you may find it a bit strong. I used it to make my cacao banana smoothie and even with all the rich chocolatey-ness I could still slightly detect the sesame flavour.
I also tried this with (plunger) coffee and was really impressed with the result. It didn’t curdle (hurrah!) and I thought the flavours really complemented each other.
Pumpkin Seed Milk
I love pumpkin seeds and I loved this. The flavour is quite subtle and nutty. It has a slight green tinge, which amuses me slightly too.
Sunflower Seed Milk
Sunflower seeds are the hands-down cheapest option I’ve tried so far. The milk tasted great, but had the unfortunate side-effect of separating into a milky layer at the bottom and a strange red liquid layer on top. It is easy to shake and mix the two layers together again, but none of the other seed or nut milks I’ve made have done this before.
I tried this in coffee and it worked really well too; it didn’t separate or do anything strange.
Other seed milks
I tried these three because that’s what I had in my cupboard. Also, they are all fairly cheap seeds. There’s plenty of others out there though. I want to make hemp and flax seed milk at some point too; both of these seeds are really good for you and have a great nutty taste that I think will work really well. Plus I love experimenting in the kitchen!
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you are a star! What a great idea. How is the declutter going?
Very well thanks! Cleared the kitchen and made a big pile of things to go to the charity shop. Although I did just grab something from the pile to use again. Best get it to the charity shop before that happens a second time!
I made macadamia nut milk yesterday, and it, too, separated overnight, with the white (fatty) parts on top and the water at the bottom. Quickly resolved with a shake.
I think they all separate or settle out a little – cashew milk is the one I’ve found best (actually walnut milk is great too) and sunflower seed milk is the worst. Nothing wrong with having to shake it either – but sometimes I forget to check I’ve screwed the lid on properly, and of course when I don’t check, it means I haven’t!
For all of you who have a problem with your homemade milk separating in the fridge, all you need to do when you’re making the milk is to add a couple of teaspoons or more of sunflower lecithin granules before blending. I always do this so that I have no problem with the milk separating in the fridge. But as you said, you can simply shake it up before pouring. That solves the problem without adding the lecithin. I don’t know about you, but I want CHEAP when I make ANYTHING! However, I use sunflower lecithin for other things as well, so the cost of adding it to homemade milk is not a bother to me.
I found it :)
In the Cashew milk recipe I asked you about seeds milk…
I am going to try these out, thanks!
Yep, just saw your comment. Good luck experimenting; let me know how you get on! : )
This weekend I made both pumpkin and sesame seed milks for the first time. I used my Vitamix to blend so didn’t even need to sieve. It really couldn’t be easier! I used the sesame milk for a banana and carob smoothie and the pumpkin milk for porridge (which made the texture very much like Ready Brek).
Hi Christine, aren’t seed milks awesome?! I strain because I like them very thin, and I make crackers with the pulp. I haven’t actually made any for a while now. I’ll have to get back onto it!
What can you do with the leftover pulp?
Hi Andrea, there are a few options. Add as is to baking in place of ground almonds (you can freeze it until you’re ready to use it); mix with some olive oil, roll out flat (I find it rolls best between two pieces of greaseproof paper) and cut into squares, then bake to make crackers; dry out in the oven at a very low temp and use as a partial replacement for flour in recipes. Hope that helps!
I use leftover sunflower seed pulp in these Oat & Date Cookies which works reliably – http://stephjb.blogspot.co.uk/2017/05/sunflower-seed-milk-and-cookies-recipes.html
I love your crackers idea too, must try that!
I can’t put my sunflower seed milk in coffee, it insists on curdling even in instant, and cashews are out of my budget. Am drinking more mint tea instead, but would love to crack the coffee problem
Hiya- with calcium being a primary thing our family needs to watch with our milk- we currently buy almond milk with added calcium- do any of the seed or nut milks have enough recommended calcium?
Sesame seeds have a high calcium content
Hi Jess, sesame seeds do have high calcium compared to other seeds, but sesame seed milk is definitely an acquired taste! Lauren from Ascension Kitchen has written some really great articles about plant-based diets: this one about calcium is very informative: https://ascensionkitchen.com/calcium-on-a-plant-based-diet/
Hi Lindsay! I’ve been making almond milk and am going to add seeds to lower the cost. I tried making crackers from the meal and failed miserably. Any tips?