Making your own grain milks
Recently, it dawn on me that this is what the old ladies in the Mercados (outdoor markets) were doing back home (San Cristobal de las Casas, Chiapas, Mexico) on their Aguas Frescas stands selling Horchata. Sadly though, by the time I was a teenager a delicious and nutritious home made milk turned into a commercial store bought syrup with tons of corn syrup and who knows what else to mimic the delicious flavor of this Mexican Rice drink (and create a new epidemic of cavities, mine included).
Grains have been used for thousands of years as a drink in many forms, tea, atole, milk, fermented drinks. This has lead me to finally understand that, “when broke, buy a sack of grain!” Not only will you have drinks, but with this sack you have flour, numerous cereals, grain dishes, toasted grain dishes. My ancestors and probably yours too, would show you (go back to when you family was farming) that you either grew your grain or made sure you had something to trade for it.
Back to the liquids, since the recession hit the island we live in, and our work, I have been busy at work in the kitchen. I went from focusing on my regular penny saving strategies to how are we saving ten dollars here and there? Crazy but true, this is not a rececion folk, its another great depression (don’t be fooled). And so, the times call for drastic measures in the home front. So I digged back to my roots and I recalled that my Tzeltal family is able to survive with corn alone and wild edible plants (as does my grandfather) and my Polish ancestors could make delicious crackers with flour and water or with a little potato and yeast some awesome baggles; finally when I came to my Mexican roots what stands out is Horchata and Atole. There is nothing that can beat a cool refeshing glass of Horchata in the middle of a hot day or a warming mug of Atole in the cold mornings of San Cristobal. The triggered memories lead me to hone my grain milk making skills.
So this is what I’ve been doing:
1. I chose to buy a sack of rolled oats (I tried to get organic, most often bulk organics are so, so, so much cheaper, so its worth the search and the effort, local food coops are great in that regard). If a sack is to much, buy a few pounds at a time.
2. I researched the different things I could do with that grain.
3. I blend the grains dry in a regular strong blender to use as coarse flour or mixed cereal (Recipe below). I use left over breakfast oatmeal to make oat milk (Recipe below) or I soak oats over night, or for 20 minutes in hot water. I have use oat milk for smoothies, baking needs, as milk and thickener of soups, hot chocolate, ice-pops. With a grinder I make flour and use the flour for baking needs. Toss oats in honey and spread thin layers in a cookie sheet and bake for granola. I’ve also made granola bars.
4. I give thanks to the farmer and the world for this Grain!
5. I watch my family love the DIY (Do It Yourself) process and smile at the delicous versatility of oats.
Recipes:
Breakfast Cereal
In a powerful Kitchen blender blend to you preferred consistency as fine, coarse or in between as you like. I often find that the bigger chunks of rice and millet add a nice body to the cereal:
1/4 Cup of Rolled Oats
1/4 Cup of brown rice
1/4 Cup of Roasted Millet (Roasting or soaking Milled helps to alkaline the grain, which is otherwise pretty acidic, roasting works best for this recipe as well for tea)
1/4 Cup of your choice (barley, khasa, quinoa, amaranth)
Add 4 cups of cold water to a sauce pan and then pour your blended cereals to the pot, stir to disolve all clumps and then (VERY IMPORTANT) turn on the flame on med-low, stir for another 3 minutes while the water warms, and then be available to stir often to avoid burned settiment.
The cereal will be ready in about 20 to 25 min. You can have it as a sweet porrige with honey, berries, raisings, wheat germ, flax seed meel, for that extra energy boost or as a savory breakfast, i like to add salt, finely chopped ginger (add while cooking), scallions and cilantro.
When you have a few more minutes to spare, make larger batches and store in a sealed container. There is your ten dollar savings
Oat Milk
From Left over oatmeal:
I mainly just gage if i have about a cup of oatmeal, I just fill up my blender with cold water. Some times less if I want a creamier consistency.
For Flavor I like to add vanilla extract, cinamon powder, honey or sugar.
From soaked oats:
Soak over night 1/2 cup of oats on a glass gar o pot with 3 cups of water, bring the same amount of water to a boil, pour onto oats and let soak 20 minutes. If you are using quick oats it would be much faster.
Resources:
Most valuable book to our family: Healing with Whole Foods by Paul Pitchford, check your local library, they should have it save $30 dollars or if you can support the author.
I will return and talk about Atole as it diserves its very own entry.