My Milk Making Machine Meanderings

To make plant-based milk, I recommend both the 1) Sanlinx Soyapower Plus Milk Maker and 2) Sanlinx Soyapower Milk Maker. These were chosen after much internet research (Amazon user reviews, Cooperative Extension, raw food websites) and conversations with customer support at Sanlinx.  We have used the PLUS for one year now and just got the newer version for our daughter. Hers is a LOT easier to clean than ours and even has an option to make the milk without heating. The heated version is a bit more “homogenized” and seems less watery. If you are not a raw foodist, 170 degrees is still a lot lower heat than the ultra-pasteurizing temps of boxed milks (278 for dairy). Most agree that nutrients are lost the more heat that is applied. Certainly taste is also impacted. What follows is a review I posted on Amazon.com last year:

Twenty years ago, we gave up dairy (AKA TCBMM- The Country's Best Mucus Maker) and switched over to "white gold" - soymilk - but it stung that the boxed quarts were the same price as a whole gallon jug of the cow's milk we left behind. Alas, soon soy has its own dark side - high TSH, enzyme inhibitors resulting in chronic amino acid and protein deficiencies, and estrogenic effects. Here we were, drinking soy milk, frying tofu and eating all sorts of soy isolate burgers, cheeses and smoothies. Until health issues such as elevated TSH levels led us to the Westin-Price research. That made us rethink eating a food that no animal chooses to eat and to continue to keep an eye on the research, and who is funding it. Certainly Monsanto gains when veg diet seekers eat product - over two thirds of the soy grown in this country is from their “Roundup Ready” seed. If you are going to eat soy in any form, check that it is organic, as two thirds of what is grown here is from Monsanto’s “Round Up Ready” GMO seed.  

NOTE: A good discussion about the soy quandary, check out this recent post by John Robbins: http://www.johnrobbins.info/blog/what-about-soy/  

So we moved away from the claws of ADM into the arms of a much-maligned, but increasingly bright star, hemp seed. Hemp seed is an amazing powerhouse of protein, similar to that of human blood, and has all the necessary amino acids. In fact, the 3:1 ratio of omega-3 to omega-6 fatty acids is what our bodies needs to be healthy.  Hemp seeds also are good sources of iron, magnesium and zinc and, unlike soy, do not have estrogenic effects or trypsin inhibitors that block absorption of nutrients.   

Yes! Children of the 60's that we are, we got hooked on hemp (sans THC) and enjoyed the seeds on salads, in smoothies, and over entrees. But we missed milk - and hemp milk, while tasty, cost twice as much as soy. I tried making hemp milk in a blender and with a nut milk bag, but like soymilk, produced not so great milk for the effort - and cost - required. A year ago, I chanced upon an an article describing the advances - and dropping prices - of alter-milk-making machines, such as the "Soyapower Plus" which included in its name its doubling as a "rice milk maker, nut milk maker". The price seemed fair - it promised six cups of milk from only half a cup of nuts or seeds. Now, every few days, I make at least two or three batches of hemp/oat/almond milk from OG Nutiva organic seed (bought in 5 pound bags), OG rolled oats, raw almonds and 6 cups filtered H20. I add a tad of agave or rice syrup, a dash of salt, and a dribble of vanilla to create a rich creamy beverage. That adds up to $1 a quart compared to a retail of four bucks! Similar value is had from almond/walnut milk- about 50 cents/quart and rice milk is a steal at about 25 cents a quart. Half again as much milk for half the price – and no box to reuse or recycle!

Of course, the Sanlinx folks had me when it said SEVENTEEN minutes to "brew" a batch - and that part is true - I stopwatch-timed it! Cleanup is a cinch --- trust me, this is NOT your mother's soymilk making ritual - you just wash the steel pitcher and the mechanism and the strainer and the bowl --- well, okay it is work, but HEY! If you're sitting on the fence about getting one of these machines, give it up - espesh if YOUR DBH also wants to catch up from all those years of deprivation of "who drank all the ___ milk?" We figure this machine paid for itself in THREE months - If you make one batch just ten times a month (a total of 15 quarts), you will have "spent" about $7 to $10 for what would have cost you $30 to $40 at the store. Do the math, and then contact Sanlinx, your local co-op or Amazon.  {End of product review – more discussion can be found at this link: http://www.amazon.com/review/RJU2NQ90BBN53/ref=cm_srch_res_rtr_alt_1 }

 Milking Day Setup

First, you will want to soften the seeds or nuts or hard grains you are using.  I find that almond, walnuts,cashews, sunflower seeds, quinoa and oat groats make great milk. To soak, add at least twice as much H20 as product. When complete, just pour off soak water (and water plants with the nutrient-rich brew), rinse, cover and refrigerate grain, nut, seed until use.

Go to http://www.veggiewave.com/soaking_chart for an excellent soaking/sprouting time chart. Soaking releases the enzyme inhibitors and makes your nuts and seeds more digestible. Some people even sprout their seeds before making milk to further increase nutrition and absorption. Over 15 years of “countrysprout"ing alfalfa, sassy and lentil sprouts has sucked the life out of our sprouting angst. We did sample some tasty sunflower sprouts at Mother’s in Newport Beach that made us want to take it up again. 

I started out making one batch of milk at a time but now find it more efficient to do a triple about every three days. That yields a gallon that keeps fresh for 10 days. 


Clear your counter and have these tools close at hand:

Milk Making Machine, including its parts

Small Stainless Steel Bowl and Strainer for the Plus; plastic holder and bowl for newer “not plus” maker

Blender or seed grinder for hemp

Filtered Water (cold for raw or heated; you can also heat it to speed up the process with the PLUS)

Large glass pitcher, carafes, or gallon jar (NOT plastic – you want nut/seed milk, not PCB brew)

Stainles tea kettle, if you are choosing to heat the water first*

Still with me? Here’s our fave alter-milk recipe. Just made a gallon yesterday!

Hemp Oat Almond Milk

½ cup soaked almonds (raw and organic if you can find – and afford - them)

1/3 cup organic rolled oats OR soaked oat groats

¼ cup organic Nutiva hempseed

Osmosis-filtered water to fill line (about 6 cups)

Place soaked almonds and oats into milk maker. 

Blend hempseed with 1/2 cup water till creamy and add to maker. 

Add water to the fill line in milk maker.*

Cover and latch, plug in, set to “Rice Plus”.

Just 17 minutes later it will beep to tell you the product is ready! 

*Tight on time? Boil the water first, and you save at least 3 minutes…

If using Soyapower Plus: 
Place strainer over small bowl, strain pulp from milk in small batches. pour milk into larger jar. 

If using newer Soyapower (non-Plus): 

Put water in container to fill line. 
Cover and latch. 
Add blended hemp, almonds and oats into fill tube.
Plug in. Choose to use No Heat or Grain setting.
(For no heat, push start button three times.)
Just 17 minutes later it will beep to tell you the product is ready! 

For each batch of milk, add: 

2/3 teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons agave  

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

No milk maker? Then do what our daughter Caitlin does - 

Blend together 1 cup almonds with 4 cups water.

Strain through a nutmilk bag. Add salt, agave, vanilla to taste...

One more option: If you have a VitaMix, you also have a milk making machine. it also can be with hot or cold water and gives minimal pulp. Put it on your wish list. It's on mine!


Tasty nut/seed/grain combos we have "milked":
Rice - Almond
Walnut-Sunflower - Hemp
Sesame - Almond - Rice
Oat-Almond-Sunflower
Cashew - Quinoa
Let me know what blends you come up with! 

Enjoy! But WAIT! 

Don't throw out the pulp - 

Use it in bread dough... or dips... or casseroles...