Concerned about the environmental impact of dairy milk? Heard unsettling rumours about some of the plant based alternatives? Confused about your plant milk options? In this episode you can find out how to get hold of delicious, fresh, environmentally friendly milks that are affordable and easy; We go behind the scenes of the world’s massive soybean, almond, rice, oat, coconut, cashew, buckwheat, sunflower and pumpkin seed plantations; We consider the importance of packaging and also the importance of how milk ingredients are farmed (regardless of what crop it is).  And, especially for kiwi’s wondering if they should ditch dairy, we dig into how Aotearoa’s farming practices compare to the rest of the world and why “buying local” really matters when you live in an isolated country in a far flung corner of the world’s largest ocean.  

But let’s be honest, if it is too expensive, tastes weird, etc we aren’t likely to ruin our daily caffeine fix for the planet. So Tim and Waveney weave it all together in a one-stop-plant-milk-shop with taste testing, price information and a DIY plant milk demonstration.  

Overall, we pronounce “oat” best in show. It’s one of the only DIY milks that require no soaking (we don’t actually mention on the ep). It is also one of the cheapest options, one of the best for the environment, one of the easiest to buy organically and locally and - rejoice and be glad - it performed very well in the double blind taste tests. 

DIY NUT MILK INFO

The recipe used in the episode is: 

• 1/2 cup of seeds / nuts etc of your choice, soaked overnight
• Discard the soaking water and put the rest into the whiz/blender/bullet.
• Add 2 cups of water in total - just a little at first to ensure everything gets cut up well. 
• Use a sieve to strain if you want to. (Most recipes online require you to force it through a cheese cloth, but the faf factor of that was way too high for us). 
• That’s it. 
• Use any strained out bits in dinner - just throw into whatever your making for a bit more bulk, texture, flavour, nutrition...

This recipe  is the easiest you’ll find online, even easier than popping down the road to buy it. However, for those with the time and desire to create their own award winning plant milks we highly recommend the YumUniverse review of 22 DIY plant milks,  (www.yumuniverse.com/plant-powerful-dairy-free-milk) with excellent summaries on taste and nutrition.  

SOURCES

The globally relevant statistics and information in this episode come from Consumer.org; Oxford University review,  Our World in Data; The Guardian, BBC science and wikipedia. Special thanks for the kiwi stats and info to the Lifecycle Association of New Zealand (www.lcanz.org.nz), Fonterra (www.fonterra.com/nz), the Organic Dairy and Pastoral Group of New Zealand (www.organicpastoral.co.nz) and Oak and Thistle (www.oakandthistle.co.nz). 

• https://ourworldindata.org/land-use
• Consumer.org, Issue 589, April 2018
• Environmental Engineering Science VOL. 35, NO. 11 | ‘Comparative Life Cycle Assessment of Milk and Plant-Based Alternatives’, 

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