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They say a man is a creature of habit. Quite true – I’d say!!
After two or three times I bought myself a Magnum popsicle to make up for an exhausting or frustrating workday – My legs carried me by themselves to the ice-cream fridge, it got to the point where I had to go through a quick detox process 🙂 bad habits should be uprooted while still small and harmless!
There are acquired taste habits – such as with beer and coffee.
Sugar, coffee and milk substitutes are a great example of how man is a creature of habits. One gets used to synthetic sugar substitutes and can’t stand sugar in his coffee; He gets used to instant coffee and he then dislikes espresso.
You get used to plant-based milk, and then cow milk becomes “Yuck”!
I’ve been making my own almond milk for years, but it had always curdled in coffee. When I first tried ‘Oatly’ I found it very tasty and perfect for coffee; But – when I tried to replicate it at home – the milk curdled too and became slimy – I was disappointed.
An online search yielded some recipes for oat milk with a promise of milk “just like Oatly”. The secret was the addition of oil.
Hopelessly optimistic, I rushed to the kitchen – and – It curdled again!
So I have been thinking: “What do you think holds the milk together so it doesn’t curdle?” I asked myself.
After more wrinkles were added to my forehead – the answer finally came: you need an Emulsifier – to merge the oil with the water!
Of course! – I burst into a stormy dance in my little kitchen – Liquid Lecithin!!
I gave it a try – and it worked! The milk didn’t curdle – instead, it merged beautifully with the coffee!
I celebrated my success for a while until one day I discovered that people are excited about a new brand of oat milk.
I tasted to see what the fuss was all about – really very tasty and creamy! (And of course, it didn’t curdle!)
I looked at the ingredients – and what do I see? In addition to oil, there was also some kind of a ‘Gum’
I rushed to my modest kitchen again but this time I replaced the lecithin with Xanthan Gum.
It worked with the gum as well! I got creamy milk which didn’t curdle in coffee!!
Ladies and gentlemen: please welcome – almond milk and/or oat milk which won’t curdle in coffee – with the addition of lecithin or xanthan gum.
I hope the rich taste, homogeneous texture, natural ingredients, and low cost will encourage you to make it often.
Almond Milk
- ½ cup raw almonds soaked overnight no need to peel the almonds
- 3-4 cups filtered water
- 1 tbsp canola oil refined Sunflower oil, Avocado oil or Almond oil
- 1 tbsp liquid sunflower lecithin or 3 tbsp lecithin granules; can be replaced with 1/4 tsp of xanthan gum or guar gum
- pinch salt
Oat Milk
- ⅔ cup rolled oats
- 3-4 cups filtered water
- 2 tbsp canola oil refined Sunflower oil, Avocado oil or Almond oil
- 2 tbsp liquid sunflower lecithin or 6 tbsp lecithin granules; can be replaced with 1/4 tsp of xanthan gum or guar gum
- pinch salt
Almond Milk
- drain the soaked almonds and transfer to a blender
- add salt, oil, lecithin or gum
- add 3 cups of water (we will add more later)
- process on a high speed for about a minute
- Line a 1000 ml measuring cup with a spout in a nut milk bag and pour the mixture into it.
- Squeeze the bag as much as you can. Pour the milk into the bottle and add more filtered water until the bottle is full.
- The milk keeps in the fridge up to 3 days
- Shake well before use.
Oat Milk
- Put in a blender rolled oats, water, oil, salt, lecithin, or xanthan gum/guar gum
- Process on a high speed for about 20 seconds
- Line a 1000 ml measuring cup with a spout in a nut milk bag and pour the mixture into it.
- Squeeze the bag as much as you can. Pour the milk into the bottle and add more filtered water until the bottle is full.
- The milk keeps in the fridge up to 3 days
- Shake well before use.
- You can replace liquid lecithin with granular lecithin – in this case, you need three times the amount. For example a tablespoon of liquid lecithin = 3 tablespoons of granular lecithin, 2 tablespoons of liquid lecithin = 6 tablespoons of granular lecithin, etc.
- Xanthan gum or guar gum are used as gluten substitutes and in various uses in the food industry. I don’t know about nutritional values – but the advantage of gum over lecithin is the calorie savings (less than 10 calories per half teaspoon of xanthan gum or guar gum compared to 120 calories per 1 tablespoon of liquid lecithin). The advantage of lecithin: It raises the level of good cholesterol!
- If you leave coffee with milk that was made with gum – after about half an hour the milk will sink. It will not curdle – just sink, a short stir will fix it 🙂
- If you have only instant oat at home, you can use it as well, in this case, make sure to process it in a blender for no longer than 10 seconds so that we do not get a “slimy” drink.
- When you add the oil before the lecithin – the lecithin will not stick to the spoon but will slide off easily and leave the spoon almost clean 🙂
I couldn’t resist…
Those who get better over time 🙂
I am looking forward to trying these additives. I usually only use oats, water and salt. I always use some ice cubes in my water so you don’t get the slime. And I like to add one or two dates.
Thank you for your comment, Never thought dates and ice cubes can work too – I will give it a try! hope you like you like this recipe. if you have any questions – feel free to contact me 🙂
Hello, one little oopsie: the almond milk video says to “add 1000 ml of water” as last step before putting into 1 L container.
Any idea if this would also worked in lemon tea? I want creamy lemon tea 🍋 🥛 🫖 Thank you!
Hello, I haven’t tried yet. Lemon acidity is probably higher than coffee acidity – You might add more lecithin to the milk. Once I’ll try I will write about it.
Trying the recipes are in my future. I am buying gums right now. While in Japan 3 years ago I had peanut tofu. It was very good. I have since made peanut milk from recipes on the web and my own peanut tofu. It seems like you might enjoy peanut milk.
Thanks for sharing, I have never thought about peanut milk – I will try – 🙂
Is it necessary to use the oil? In general I do not use oil, and wonder if xantham gum alone would work to emulsify the milk?
Hi Joanie, I have not tried without oil, but I believe it will work with xanthan gum alone.