boy- that site sure isn't explicit on product details. I mean doesn't a blender do this? And why is this over $100 (esp given that it looks to mostly be plastic)?

McAuliflower- I don't know about hemp milk, but a regular blender has trouble making other nut milks because it is difficult to finely grind nuts, which are both hard and oily. Even using a spice grinder to grind the nuts beforehand, it's hard to get a really smooth consistency.

Once exception is the Vita-Mix, which has a high-speed motor.

I have found all the nut and seed milks I have tasted to be incredibly good, far superior to soy. This is a great kitchen post!

This is cool, I need to mess around with nut milks. I never really thought about turning nuts into milk (other than soy of course); what a great idea.

As someone who adores dairy and could never give it up, but needs to cut down, I have recently gotten curious about this whole concept of nut milks for cooking.

If any of you are curious too, check out the item that got me interested: a recepie for "a creamy, rich, hearty winter gratin" made with cashew nut cream, from the chefs of the incredibly creative San Francisco vegetarian restaurant Millenium. Via 101 Cookbooks.

Don't waste you $$$ on this thing and then buy their packaged seeds to feed it.

Buy raw nuts or seeds in bulk if you can! A regular blender will work. You must soak the nuts or seeds overnight. This is how you make nut/seed milk. You want the the nuts or seeds to soak up the water. You don't want to grind the nuts or seeds beforehand because all you're making then is "flour" milk.

I make this suff all the time and avoid the soy. Pumpkin seed milk, hemp seed milk, almond milk, even cashew/almond/flax "nog". You must add sweetener (or spices) in the end - ex. agave nectar or maple syrup.

Oh, I fogot to mention. You need a good blender and a GOOD fine-mesh strainer to make nut/seed milk. Both of which can be used for other things beside just making milk.

The main reason to get this item, as with most other high-end kitchen wares, is convenience. Cleaning the nut meats out of a blender is time consuming. This is like having a second coffee grinder to use just for grinding whole spices; you have less cleanup and it's easier than the mortar and pestle -- tho much less of an arm workout! ;-)

Actually, the blender approach is a lot less cleanup. If you look closely, this device has a fine mesh inner filter - which is a pain to keep clean. I know because I have an automatic soymilk machine which is a pain to clean.



The blender approach is very easy and there are no nut meats stuck to the blades. I make all types of milk every other day.



Step 1: Soak the seeds or nuts overnight in filtered tap. Depending on the seed or nut, you may soak them in the fridge.



Step 2: Measure/add the water to the blender.



Step 3: Rinse the nuts/seeds them place in blender.



Step 4: Run the blender for 3-5 minutes. Depends on the blades etc.



Step 5: Pour the milky mixture into a fine mesh strainer and let drain until the pulp is dry. Use a spoon to lightly work the pulp.



Step 6: Store the pulp for later use, sweeten the milk and store.



The whole process minus the soaking takes less than 10 minutes. It's healthy and cleanup is only the blender and utensils. This is an easy process that can be done while you prepare dinner.



No workout is necessary with this technique. No mortar, no upper body strength, no push ups. Just a blender and the desire to wash your dishes.

This is just another painful reminder that there is still no commercially available hemp milk on store shelves, while there are a dozen different soy brands. Not until there is hemp milk in mass production will there be financial cushioning to enable the production of hemp protein powder isolate (which has hemp milk as a necessary processing step) which we desperately need in the electric car industry to make high-energy aerogel capacitors, now made from soy isolate. Hemp promises much stronger amino acid bonds, which is why hemp seed is still used to make glue in some countries.

I don't want to sound uninformed (though clearly am) but what is the draw back of drinking soy milk?
I've been off diary for 3 years now and don't really bother with replacements but understand that the nut milk can offer me some calcium replacement...and plus really kind of miss ice cream. How does hemp ice-cream go down?!

Commercial hemp milk is available in Canada and USA now. I drink Living Harvest (they ship) and it tastes delicious. They ship world wide. I am Chinese, and read up on TCM (traditional Chinese medicine) and Chinese food therapy. Soybean is not eaten that frequently by the Chinese, and usually only by poor people. Soy is usually eaten sprouted, or made into tofu or fermented condiments. Soymilk, when drunk, is done at most once a day, if that. There are many problems with soy detailed in www.mercola.com. Many of the problems cited such as the presence of digestive enzyme inhibitors, depression of thyroid function, and general deficient health status (cold hands, pale complexion), converge with the TCM view of soy. TCM views soy as a cold food. If taken other than moderately, it cools the digestive function. If taken by those with a cool constitution (easy to feel cold, cold hands and feet) for a prolonged period, clinical "cold" ailments, such as those described, surface. On the other hand, I feel hemp is much safer, as TCM views it as more supportive of the digestive function than soy. Hemp is taken for some dry/hot skin rashes and to lubricate the bowels. Should be excellent for dry skin (eczema/psoraisis?) and constipation. Also, it does not have digestive enzyme inhibitors like soy. Those inhibitors needs prolonged cooking to be inactivated, which should denature at least some of its essential fatty acids in soy into harmful ones.

Does anybody know the nutritional values of hemp milk in terms of carbs, fat and protein %. I am led to believe that it is not the same as whole hemp seed.