in a recent post to veg-raw, [log in to unmask] raised a number of
questions, as follows: (post is long as answers are detailed)

>1) I understand that one makes oats and/or almond milk by soaking the seeds
>(how long? one day?). Then, what gadget do you use to extract the milk?
>Do you add any flavoring to milk obtained this way? How much water for
>how much seeds? And finally, how do you manage with almonds, here (a
>5M people metro area) the best I can find for organic almonds is $7.10/lb.

Let me address the almond supply question first. I get wonderful almonds for
$4.50 per pound, in bulk. I'm not certain if they are organic or not. One
can get almonds (non-organic and organic) by mail from Jaffe Bros, P.O. Box 736,
Valley Center, CA 92082-0636; phone 619-749-1133. Their organic almonds are
$29.90 for 5 lbs, non-organic $22.90 for 5 lbs. Including shipping and handling,
the Jaffe price for organic almonds, is not much better than the $7.10 per pound
price you quote.

[P.S. The almonds I get for $4.50 are such extraordinary quality I'm not worried
about whether they are organic or not!  As I insist on peeling sprouted almonds
before eating them, large (non-organic) almonds that are easily peeled are
preferred to smaller (organic) almonds that are difficult to peel.]

One last comment on almonds: recent cold weather here in California may impact
this year's almond crop unfavorably (too early to tell definitely). Prices
for almonds next year may be worse/higher.

On to oat-almond milk. Will present a detailed description of the method I
use, and will then describe some simplifications/options in making it. Equipment
needed: stainless steel sieve with handle (2-3 cup capacity), bowl of size
that 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- Lundberg
Farms Wehani rice, 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 water gives a sweeter final product.
The almonds are soaked separately from the grains. The oats and rice/wheat
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 2 teaspoons of flax seed in water
to soak: refrigerate. Can add cardamon seed, 1/2 tsp., to flax if you are
using it as flavoring.

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: 1.75-2.0 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
actually be done at 1.5 days time 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 30-60 seconds. Then
add rest of water, run on high another 30-60 seconds. Then turn down to low,
let run for 1 minute at least.

Sieve should be setting on rim of bowl. Turn off blender, pour contents into
sieve. Use large spoon to stir mixture, with liquid draining into bowl. Use
1/2 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. Can put optional ingredients
in blender here: sweetener - 1+ tbsp raw honey, or freeze dried sugarcane
juice or other sweetener. Flavorings: 1 heaping tsp of cinnamon, or 1/2 inch
of vanilla bean. Other options: small amount of acidophilus powder.

Now line 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. Afterward, wash handkerchief. (Can use
cheesecloth here instead). This step is not absolutely necessary, but it makes
a smoother product and removes all tiny oat hull pieces not filtered out in
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. (address above). They were out of stock when I checked 2 weeks ago,
but are expected in very soon.
* Soak/sprout rice or wheat, 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: if you do that, you may experience a laxative effect from the flax!
* If you want to use cardamon 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 a necessity but can be quite good. Personally, I use
sweetener only rarely.
* Vanilla is the best flavoring, in my opinion. It is also expensive. Cinnamon
is very nice, and the plain/unflavored milk can be quite good.
* 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.
* This recipe is work, but the results can be quite delicious. The recipe is
complicated by the inedible oat hulls and the processing required to keep
them out of the final product.
* 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 the
dairy-milk like flavor. (Can modify above recipe to use only oats - use a bit
over 1/2 cup oats in place of oats/wheat or oats/rice blend).
* Oats - are regarded by Western herbalists as a tonic for the nervous system.
* A homeopathic preparation of oats (Avena Sativa) was in the news recently;
supposedly it greatly enhanced people's sexual stamina! I question whether oat
sprout milk will have such an effect, or at least I'm not looking for that
kind of effect.

>2) Where can one find trays to grow buckwheat and sunflower greens? How deep
>do they need to be, which kind of dirt do you put in, and do they need to have
>holes in the bottom?

Ann Wigmore recommends using plastic cafeteria trays; they have no drainage
holes. You might be able to buy them from a local supplier; if not, the
Ann Wigmore Foundation in Boston sells them mail order.

Many people using the cafeteria trays report problems with mold. Most commercial
wheatgrass operations use the larger, deeper plastic trays used by plant
nurseries to grow seedlings. They also have holes in the bottom for drainage.
You can buy those trays from garden supply stores and/or large plant nurseries.
They can be purchased by mail order from some mail order garden suppliers;
Park Seed Company carries them: "Perma-Nest Plant Trays". Park Seed;
Cokesbury Road, P.O. Box 46; Greenwood, SC 29648-0046.

The seedling trays, if you provide drainage for them, can alleviate the mold
problems somewhat. They are up to 2-3 inches deep, which gives more room for
roots than cafeteria trays.

Dirt to use: most people use commercial soil mixes, to which you might want
to add some lime to reduce acidity (most commercial mixes include ground up
bark, which is often acidic; lime helps offset that). How much lime? Maybe
1 tablespoon per large tray. Dolomite limestone is very cheap and readily
available at garden supply centers.

>3) I cannot find fennel seeds for sprouting, or even those other aromatic
>seeds Tom Billings was mentioning. I would like to use them for flavoring
>soaked seeds mixtures. Any mailing source for that?

Before mentioning some mail sources, let me mention that dill, fennel, cumin,
coriander, cardamon, mustard seeds are often available in the bulk herb section
of larger health food stores. The price may be high there, but you can
buy only a little and test for quality.  Also note that if you are growing
short sprouts, i.e., sprouting the seeds for 1-2 days, the seeds named above
take longer to develop a root shoot (cardamon takes 10-14 days). However,
that is not a problem -  it's fine to eat them before they have a root
shoot. Their flavor will be available when you eat the sprout mixture.
[Special note re: cardamon and caraway. These seeds have such a strong
flavor that I recommend just soaking them in water and using - if left to
"sprout", they get bitter and their flavor becomes **very** intense.]

Also, if there is an (East) Indian food store in your area, they should have
all the above seeds, at much lower prices, fresher, and much higher quality than
a health food store.

The above seeds can be ordered by mail from:

Nature's Herb Company
1010-46th Street
Emeryville, CA 94608
phone: 510-601-0700

My source for these seeds is New Santos. They don't do mail order yet, but are
planning to do mail order in the near(?) future. They are a large wholesale/
retail operation. They sell all the seeds named above, and also all kinds of
spices (cinnamon, turmeric, etc.). They also carry black sesame seeds,
kala channa and green channa (miniature garbanzos), moth beans (similar to
mung but sprout faster), urid (black mung beans), as well as many other kinds
of seeds (almonds, mung, pistachios, etc.). Their spices are not irradiated,
per my discussion with the owner. Their seeds are, in general, not organic.

New Santos
1188 Montague Street
San Leandro, CA 94577
Phones: 510-357-0277
Fax:    510-357-1637

Tom Billings
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