Home Made Brown Rice Milk
16I must admit, I am never been a fan of brown rice milk. Why? Cause I never thought it had any flavour! I have tried every rice milk variety on the market and have not been itching to return to the rice milk trough. That was until I made my home-made rice milk. Oh wow! I discovered that by not embracing the potential of rice milk, I had been missing out!
I will be honest, brown rice milk is not my first port of call when I make a vegan smoothie, as I prefer to use more nutritionally dense vegan milks to indulge in. But for those of you nut allergies, or those of you who love rice milk, or even for the rest of you -- this milk is a winner.
The Chinese have given us so many delicious culinary gifts. Brown rice would have to be at the top of the whole foods list. The Chinese have been cultivating rice for about 9,000 years. Yeah, and we have just recently caught the bug in the last century! Gosh, it is like that with so many healthy wonders from the East -- yoga, colonics. Oh, I could go on and on. There are about 8,000 different types of rice. That puts me to shame. I can only name about 8!
You know what I love the most about brown rice? It is cheap! That is something brown rice milk has over vegan nut milks. Those of you who have milked raw nuts on a regular basis know that it can prove to be a strain on the piggy bank. No wonder rice is one of the most vital food staples in the world, and accounts for about half of the caloric intake of almost half the world’s population!
I don’t know about you, but texture is critical to my enjoyment of anything I eat. For those of you who are used to consuming fluffy white rice and are cringing – Fear not! If you soak your rice, it takes a lot of the grittiness away, and more closely resembles the texture of white rice, with all the added nutritional benefits. Refer to my page about Why Soak Grains to learn more about that.
Soaking is also beneficial when making home-made brown rice milk. Like all of the home-made vegan milks, if you are using this brown rice milk recipe in a vegan smoothie, you need do nothing else than blend and pour. But if you are going to use this milk for cereals, then you will want to jazz it up. Once again, any natural sweeteners and flavourings will work with this home-made rice milk.
**I have listed more information about home-made vegan grain milks in the recipe instructions.
Home Made Brown Rice Milk
- 1/2 cup cooked brown rice that has been soaked before cooking
- 2 cups filtered water
- Blend in your Vitamix until well combined.
- Drink rustic, or strain with a nut milk for a silky smooth consistency.
For a basic flavour for cereals and breakfast drinks try -
- 4 pitted dates, 3-4 Tbsp maple syrup, yacon syrup, raw agave, raw honey, coconut sugar, OR a few drops of Stevia
- 1-2 tsp of natural vanilla extract
- a pinch of Celtic sea salt or Himalayan salt
**You could add some cacao powder for chocolate milk. Fresh fruit, coconut and cinnamon work well too.
The great thing about home made vegan milks? They are dairy free, soy free, hormone free, additive free, preservative free, more nutritious, and unprocessed.
A Vitamix is really recommended to yield the best results. Regular blenders generally don’t have the grunt to really pulverize the grains.
I recommend always soaking raw grains before cooking to remove the enzyme inhibitors and make them more digestible. Refer to my Why Soak Nuts, Seeds and Grains page to get more information about the health benefits of soaking. But as a general rule – soaking grains for the maximum recommended time will yield the best milk. My experience has been that the longer they are soaked, the more plump and water logged the grain becomes, and the quicker they will blend and liquefy.
One thing that is important to mention, is that sometimes you have to run the blender for a while in order to achieve the most homogenized results; which warms up your blender, and thus the milk. Don’t be alarmed – the milk will not spoil. Just chill in the fridge, or add some ice cubes into the blender if you are using the milk straight away.
Grain milks will safely keep in a cold fridge in a glass jar or jug for about 2days. perhaps 3 days if kept very cold. The milk might separate a little and get a bit of a skim on the top. Just give it a stir or a quick pulse in the blender before using and you will be good to go.
A great tip I got in a raw vegan class: freeze any extra milk into ice cube trays and then collect in freezer bags for quick use in smoothies later.
Piggy Cooking Tips
Freeze leftover milk in ice cube trays for use later
Don't waste that leftover milk. Freeze it in ice cube trays, and them empty into containers or zip-lock freezer bags for use later in smoothies, soups, and other recipes.
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Piggy Grunts!
Add Your GruntI’ve been considering making this, but I have some questions first.
I’ve gotten really into cashew milk, it’s so fantastically rich and creamy, but I may do the candida diet again, and cashews are on the list of no-nos.
Are there different kinds of brown rice? Is there one that has a better taste? Would short grain or long grain be better for this?
Thanks Tess. Your site has been a never ending resource!
Hey Dawn.
I use a variety of different whole grain rices to make rice milk. Just make sure you soak the rice (see my how to section) to remove the enzyme inhibitors. Roasting the rice in a pan and soaking also works wonders for digestion AND great flavour.
However, if you are going back on an anti-candida diet, rice is also on the NO list.
Almond milk will be your best bet while you are doing that. Soak the almonds and then blend. Almonds are the most alkaline-rich nut and are great for anti-candida diets.
Hmm, the anti-candida diet is so limiting, but I always feel so much better after being on it! OK, NO rice, back to almond milk.
As always, thank you, thank you, thank you! :)
By the way, I use my Vitamix at least once a day. My boyfriend can’t believe how good the soups I make are. Can’t wait for yummy fall soups.
You are SO welcome!
Yes. NO rice. Hop into the almond milk made with soaked almonds.
Isn’t Vitamix just a LIFESAVER.
I use mine at least 3 times a day and just could not live without it.
Yes! LOVE LOVE LOVE soup season….and I will have some beauties to share!!!
Dawn, are you following the Body Ecology Diet? I tried every single anti-candida diet on the planet! This was the ONLY one that really worked for me.
Check it out if you haven’t already :)
It is fantastic. Now every time we have company, my boyfriend shows off the vitamix like he’s giving a tour, explaining all of wonderful things I make with it. It’s hysterical.
I’m not familiar with the Body Ecology Diet. I’ll have to look into it.
When I did the diet last year, I followed the do’s and don’ts I found here
http://www.thecandidadiet.com
LOl! That is SO cute!
Body Ecology is the BEST anti-candida diet on the planet.
The Candida Diet is a good website.
But BE is much better.
Then inclusion of coconut water kefir, cultured vegetables, and food combining is the key, and what sets BE ahead of those other diets.
Trust me, get a copy of that book.
It will change your life!
Thanks, Tess!! I’ll go get a copy now.
( I love amazon :) )
Please do. I swear it will change your life.
You won’t be able to put it down!
Weekend reading…... ENJOY!
so i did this one last night, and it went OK. i think you are dead on the money about the blender…vitamix seems to be the key in smoothness. i watched some video reviews on it.
but for all intensive purposes i gave the ninja a chance, it went over alright. not so keen on the taste by itself of this, but i think its a cheap enough resource for my protien shakes..i think ill keep it around awhile. and the rice pulp made for some yummy hot cereal in the morning for Jojo (my daughter). anyways, just an update as promised! ‘’ )
Yes….you need a Vitamix to get a smoother consistency. But you never get a really smooth consistency with rice milk unless you strain it.
YES! The pulp is FANTASTIC for breakfast!
I cook rice by soaking it for 24 hours with a teaspoon of sea salt or Himlayan crystal salt and then rinsing thoroughly. I then either use my rice cooker (if I am busy) with a 1:1 ratio of rice to filtered alkaline water. If you don’t soak the rice it is a 2:1 ratio of water to rice. You can also cook it on the stove top or in a pressure cooker.
Hi,
I have tried making a few variations of vegan milk in the past but I found they always do poorly in hot drinks as they tend to separate :-( Any suggestion on how to prevent this or what is the best homemade milk to use for such option ?
p.s: I also tend to stay away from soy and fatty nuts as I don’t seem to digest them well at all :-( Commercial rice has been the best option until now but I would like to find a homemade solution if possible;-)
Yes, this is a problem with homemade milks. I must admit that I very rarely heat them and drink them raw. I will say, you will get the best results if you bring the milk to room temp, stir it, and then heat or add to a heated drink. You get slightly better results if you add some lecithin to the milk. I use non gmo sunflower seed lecithin. It is in the recipe. I hope this helps.
Been looking for a way to make this at home, and here it is! Looks so easy. Thanks Blender Girl