OAT SPROUT MILK SUBSTITUTE: DETAILED DIRECTIONS

The material below is an edited, revised version of material originally posted
on the veg-raw e-mail list in February, 1996.

First, I will present a detailed description of the method I use to make milk
substitutes, then will describe some simplifications/options in making it.
Equipment needed: stainless steel sieve with handle (2-3 cup capacity), bowl of
a size such that the sieve can rest on its rim, cotton handkerchief (clean),
tablespoon or similar large spoon, blender.

Time 0:
Take 1/3 cup unhulled sprouting oats, and: 1/4 cup sprouting wheat -or- other
grains/seeds, and soak in water.
Take 15 (large) - 20 (small) almonds and soak in water. After 30-90 minutes,
change almond soak water (note first water is brownish with tannic acid). You
may lose some water soluble nutrients, but you also lose much of the tannic
acid; changing the water once gives a sweeter, final product. Note: the almonds
are soaked separately from the grains. The oats and other grains/seeds are
generally soaked and sprouted together, but they can be done separately if
desired.

Time: 0.5 days
Take oat/wheat or oat/rice out of soak and put in sprouting environment.
Similar for almonds, but sprout separately from grains.
Optional: in a very small container, put 1 teaspoon of flax seed, and
a small amount of cardamom seed, in water to soak: refrigerate.  Place
10-12 lotus seeds in a small amount of water, and refrigerate.

Time: 1.0 day
Rinse oats and almonds in sprouting environment

Time: 1.5 days
Rinse oats again in sprouting environment.
Rinse almonds and remove from sprouting environment - refrigerate.

Time: approx. 2.0 days
Now it is time to make the sprout milk. Begin by peeling the sprouted almonds.
This is made much easier if you blanch the almond sprouts by putting them in a
sieve and running hot water (from the faucet, 140 deg F, not boiling water!)
over them for about 20-30 seconds. Peel almonds and set aside  (blanch can
be done earlier, at 1.5 days, if that is easier for you). Note: if doing
more than 20 almonds, blanch only 20 at a time. If you do too many at once,
they cool off and peeling becomes difficult.

Take grain out of sprouting environment, and (optional) soaked flaxseed from
refrigerator - rinse in sieve, put in blender. Take 1.75 cups water, put half
in blender with grain. Run blender at medium for about 60 seconds. Then add the
rest of water, run on high another 60 seconds. Then turn down to low, let run
for 1 minute at least.

Place the sieve on the rim of a bowl. Turn off blender, pour contents into
sieve. Use large spoon to stir mixture, with liquid draining into bowl. Use
1/3 cup water to rinse blender, put rinse water into sieve. Using spoon to
apply pressure to sprout pulp in sieve, press as much liquid out of material
as possible. Discard pulp, clean sieve. Rinse blender again, discarding rinse
water. Now put peeled almonds in clean blender, also drain soaked lotus seeds
and place in blender. Can add optional ingredients in blender here: sweetener -
1+ tbsp raw honey, or freeze dried sugarcane juice. Flavorings: 1/2 level tsp
of cinnamon, or 1/2 inch of vanilla bean. Other options: small amount of
acidophilus powder.

Now line the sieve with clean handkerchief, and strain the milk mixture through
it into the blender. Use handkerchief to make a small bag in the sieve; lift bag
up and down to speed filtration. When most of the liquid has drained through the
sieve, use large spoon to press remaining pulp in the wet handkerchief.  Later,
wash handkerchief (can use cheesecloth here instead). This step is not
absolutely necessary, but it makes a smoother product and removes tiny oat hull
pieces not filtered out in the first filtration.

Now turn blender on medium for a few seconds to grind up almonds. Then turn to
low and let run for 2 minutes. Finally, you're done. Pour sprout milk into
glasses (will yield 2 good sized glasses, about 3 cups), refrigerate. Will keep
for a few days in the refrigerator.

Options:

* Use whole oats (won't sprout) instead of sprouting oats - soak 12 hrs instead
of soak + sprout cycle above. Sprouting oats can be obtained from Jaffe Bros.
in Valley Center, California; phone 619-749-1133.

* Soak/sprout additional grains/seeds (hulled only), separate from oats, and
grind them up intact with almonds into final milk. Will give much thicker sprout
milk, at cost of extra handling in sprouting and soaking stage.

Comments:

* One can add the optional, soaked flaxseed with the almonds for final blend.
Caution: you may experience a laxative effect from the flax seeds.

* If you want to use cardamom as flavoring, use whole decorticated seeds that
are soaked overnight to soften. Can use powder instead, but watch out: it has
hulls ground with it and can be quite bitter.

* Sweetener is not required but can be quite good. Some people who try this
milk substitute report that it can be bitter if unsweetened. If that happens
to you, suggest you add something to sweeten, and omit/do not use, the
optional cardamom.

* Vanilla is the best flavoring, in my opinion. It is also expensive. Cinnamon
is very nice, and the plain/unflavored milk can be good also.

* Can use soaked dried fruit (dates, raisins, figs) as sweetener but they
overwhelm the mild flavor of the sprout milk. Not worth the trouble, in
my opinion.

* Surprise: bananas + sprout milk tastes *bitter*! Not recommended. Also,
fennel seed powder + sprout milk is bitter.

* Some raw food recipe books have recipes for milks made exclusively from
almonds (good, but quite expensive), and milks made exclusively from sprouted
wheat (can be very strong tasting if wheat sprouts are at the super-sweet
stage). So there are alternatives to oats. The primary advantage of oats is
that the flavor is closer to the flavor of regular (dairy) milk.

* Oats - are regarded by Western herbalists as a tonic for the nervous system.

* A homeopathic preparation of oats (Avena Sativa) was in the news in 1996;
supposedly it enhanced people's sexual stamina. I make no claims regarding
such an effect from oat sprout milk!

Tom Billings