Vegan Land: Learn to make vegetable milk in an economical and practical way

Leave the peanuts to soak, mix with water and squeeze the milk with a dish towel. Anyone who has done this process will agree that there is something exciting about extracting milk without touching teats.

Speaking of which: there are those who say that it is wrong to call milk a liquid that was not produced by the mammary glands. Now, what we extract from the coconut and use in the preparation of delicacies, moquecas and hominys is what? Coconut milk.

Choosing vegetable milk instead of cow’s milk is perhaps one of the simplest substitutions to be made when it comes to reducing the consumption of animal products. At a time when the climate crisis has gained concreteness and urgency, this replacement should become public policy, with tax incentives for vegetable milk producers.

Can you imagine if a liter of peanut milk came out for the same price as cow’s milk, or if it was even cheaper? An affordable price, combined with an educational campaign to spread peanut milk —wouldn’t it be a great stimulus for the population to opt for the vegetable alternative?

Agriculture is responsible for 37% of methane emissions. More peanuts in the field, less methane in the atmosphere. A good measure to reach the goal of reducing emissions of this gas by 30% by 2030, recently defined at COP-26 and signed by more than one hundred countries, including Brazil.

The country is the fifth largest emitter of methane, a gas that has been increasingly placed on the climate agenda for its global warming potential 34 times greater than that of carbon gas.

The options for vegetable milk go far beyond peanuts, and if this dried fruit has been so much evoked until now, it is so that we don’t run the risk of thinking that vegetable alternatives are too expensive and inaccessible.

They can be, if we buy almonds and macadamias. But they can be cheaper than cow’s milk, especially with public policies to encourage its production and consumption.

Buying ready-to-drink vegetable milk is still a slightly salty alternative, but we can prepare it at home without too much work and freeze it for free.

While government officials continue drinking their coffee with cow’s milk in the middle of COP26, let’s go, whoever can, try the vegetable?

How to prepare vegetable milk at home

There are several options when choosing ingredients, but today we are going to opt for the most practical and economical: peanuts, sunflower seeds and oat flakes.

Any other oilseed can be used instead of peanuts or sunflower seeds, however, in the case of choosing almonds, hazelnuts, cashew nuts or Brazil nuts, the cost per liter will increase.

PEANUT OR SUNFLOWER SEED MILK

INGREDIENTS

1 cup of peanuts, or sunflower seeds.

2 cups of water.

PREPARATION

1. Soak the oilseed in water for at least 6 hours. This makes it easier to beat and release the fat, in addition to reducing the action of phytate, an antinutrient present in the husk of oilseeds.
2. Discard the water from the sauce, add water and beat for 2 minutes. Strain with the help of a voal, cloth strainer or a dish towel.

And what to do with the residue? A practical and tasty reuse is seasoned ricotta. Add chopped onion, parsley or other fresh herb, diced tomato, oregano, oil and salt to the milk residue. It mixes and is ready to serve with bread or salads. A delight!

MILK OATS

INGREDIENTS

3/4 cup of rolled oats (thin or thick).

1 liter of warm water.

PREPARATION

1. Beat the oats and water for 2 minutes. Then pass through the voal, cloth strainer or dish towel.

There are people who drink this milk without straining, because the residue it generates is minimal.

SANITATION AND STORAGE

Vegetable milks can be stored in the refrigerator for four days, or frozen for three months. The ideal is to store in containers sanitized with alcohol, or in glass bottles boiled with water. Another great option to freeze small portions – to drink with coffee, for example – are the ice cups.