Homemade Flax Milk

April 5, 2012 By Leanne Vogel March 29, 2017

This dairy-free recipes was inspired by my trip to India earlier this year… While I was walking along the road in the small village of Kallikadu, a random Indian woman invited me into her home for a cup of masala chai. Generally I would have said no to a stranger… but I was in India and had the opportunity to chat with a local in their home, of course I said yes! Her house was made of concrete with a metal roof and was no larger than my ensuite bathroom. Her possessions included a couple of pots, a slab of wood she called a bed and a fire to cook her meals. We got to talking about my life at home, her childhood, food, family, why I traveled to India, religion, and if she’d ever gotten a chance to travel anywhere. She kept a bright smile stretched across her face, a warmness to her eyes and stayed present for the entire conversation. It was easy to see just how happy she was to be alive. Beside her, I felt so poor. As if nothing I’d ever accomplished mattered. How can I have everything I’ve ever wanted, but feel so empty? It just didn’t make sense and it ripped at me for the duration of my stay. When I returned home, filling my life with stuff just didn’t seem all that important anymore. I’d learned that making connections would create far more happiness from within than relying on the physical things ever would. I’ve begun spending more time with friends, getting involved in the community and have started to become mindful of the things I buy. Instead of just purchasing blindly, I’ve been asking myself… do I really need this rice syrup, or will the honey I already have do the trick? Maybe a weird example, but from a girl with about 518 different types of sweeteners in her pantry, this is a fair question to be asking. One of the best things in all of this has been coming up with ways to simplify in the kitchen. I’ve been making my own cereal, sprouting seeds, and cooking pulses. All easy stuff, but I’m surprised at what a huge impact it’s made to our grocery bill and my feeling of self-sustenance. The easiest and most rewarding change I’ve made in the kitchen has been experimenting with dairy-free alternative milk recipes. From homemade sesame milk, making my own hemp milk, almond milk; and most recently, creating this tasty flax milk recipe.

This milk couldn’t be simpler to prepare. Once complete, it’s great on it’s own and even better as a smoothie base. I only tried it with brown flax, but I’ve read that making flax milk with golden flax produces a milder flavor. So, if you don’t generally like the taste of flax, go with the golden seed instead. The cool thing about making flax milk is that it’s completely unprocessed. You don’t need to worry about the milk being rancid as you would with the store-bought varieties. Not only that, but it’ll save you upwards of $4 when you make your own as opposed to purchasing it at the store! Have I convinced you yet? No? I made step by step instructions… maybe that will? ;) View Nutrition Information (once on page scroll down) Let’s break it down! Set out all of your ingredients. I purchased the pantyhose at the dollar store for 50 cents. You can reuse it for future batches it’ll just take awhile to get clean. Add the water and let the mixture blend. You want the pieces to be still visible as they’ll be filtered out a bit easier. Cut off the legs of the pantyhose. They should be about 2 feet long. Pull the pantyhose over the jug of the blender and pour into a large bowl. Hold up the hose and let it drain. Squeeze it gently. Return the mixture back to the jag and repeat the straining process using the other leg of the pantyhose. Return back to the jug, add in your dates and vanilla and blend until pulverized. Remove the froth with a sieve or skim the surface with a spoon. Tada! You now have a tall glass of flax milk waiting for you to enjoy. *best served chilled* …but that hasn’t stopped me from enjoying a fresh cup ;)  

This entry was tagged: homemade milk, how to make milk