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I have nothing against cows, but that doesn’t mean I always want to drink their juice. Like many people who do so for dietary, ethical or climate reasons, I was looking for an alternative to milk. I find automatic milk machines to be very convenient and designed for making non-dairy milk from nuts, oats, and other plant-based foods. You simply place the herbal product into the device along with water, and the machine automatically processes it all into a creamy milk drink.
There are two main types of plant milk. Milk (often called raw milk) is made from ingredients such as oats and almonds by finely blending the material and mixing it with water to suspend the plant material. For rice or buckwheat milk, the plant source is soaked and heated to release enzymes that break down the plant material, then ground and blended. Hence the name “hot milk”. Most milk machines I’ve tested can produce both types, including warmers and blenders. Some companies, such as Nutr and MioMat, also offer soy milk plans that require heating the liquid to break down a chemical in raw soybeans (trypsin inhibitors) that can cause gastrointestinal pain.
Be sure to check out some of our other kitchen gadget buying guides, including the best equipment for small kitchens, the best electric kettles, the best coffee grinders, and the best tea accessories.
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The dubiously named Nutr milk machine is the smallest milk machine I’ve tested, about the size of a half-gallon carton of milk. It also produces the least amount of milk, with a maximum of about one and a half cups. But it’s quick: Add a cup of water and a tablespoon of instant oatmeal, and in five minutes you’ll have a cup of oat milk. It’s the same with almond milk: it only produces milk when you need it, eliminating the need to store it. If you need a larger quantity, know that Nutr is developing a family version that allows you to make servings up to 600 ml (about 2.5 cups).
I tested this by making oat milk, almond milk, rice milk, and tiger nut milk. The resulting milk mixes very well, although the milk benefits from the included Nutr filter in the cup, which catches the plant mush. This filter didn’t catch everything: I still found some sand in the filtered milk.
Nutr is fast, but the noise is annoying: The noisy blender motor runs intermittently, like an annoying child with his finger on the power button and constantly turning it on and off to annoy you. The longer the milking cycle, the less often the mixer will work, but it will be no less stimulating. It’s definitely not the kind of noise I want in the morning: it wakes my dog up, which means I can’t have a cup of coffee before taking him out for a walk.
The Nutr also handled rice milk (a type of hot milk that needs to be heated when brewing) without issue, but it took about 27 minutes plus about 10 minutes waiting for the milk to cool from near the boiling point needed for milking. process. The enzymes are working. You have to wait a long time considering the short period of time.
In addition to subscription-based delivery of nuts, oats and other plant-based materials used to make milk, Nutr also sells powder mixes used to flavor milk and add plant-based ingredients. Vanilla cinnamon with reishi and L-theanine has a rather unpleasant mushroom flavor, but strawberry powder is more pleasant, with a sweet and slightly citrusy taste. Includes a trial pack of five flavors.
Making small batches of fresh plant milk when needed is a great idea because freshly made plant milk tastes better. Although the execution could have been better. The noise is very annoying and the low maximum level means it only works for one person. If you only have one vegetarian in the house, this may be fine, but the noise may cause him to drink milk again.
If you want to make a lot of plant-based milk or try different milk sources, try ChefWave Milkmade. It automates the milk production process but provides greater flexibility regarding sources and quantities, and also has an automatic cleaning feature that saves a lot of time. It looks like a coffee machine with a top loader and a carafe at the front. There’s even a water reservoir on the back, like a Keurig or other pod coffee makers, although you’ll have to refill it every time you use it.
You remove the water reservoir and fill it to 10 or 20 ounces, depending on how much milk you want. The milk source is then placed into the mixing chamber, a glass-enclosed compartment at the top of the machine. You then select a cycle on the control panel and it prepares a portion of milk for you in the convenient milk jug on the front of the machine. This process takes about 18 minutes for oat milk and 45 minutes for soy milk. Once complete, Milkmade will beep with satisfaction and begin the cleaning cycle, cleaning the system and filling the internal hopper with clean water. Once the cleaning cycle is complete, empty the hopper and Milkmade will be ready for use again.
It’s simple and effective, but the downside is that you’ll have to fill the water tank and empty the inner water bucket every time you use it. Although the reservoir holds over 40 ounces of liquid, most of it is used for cleaning.
Milkmade does a great job of blending milk, but it doesn’t filter it, which means the milk may have a slightly rough texture due to chunks of ingredients. It’s found in the oat milk, soy milk, and horchata milk I make, all of which go through a final filter through a fine-mesh filter (not included).
The control panel offers six presets (almond, soy, oat, cashew, macadamia, and coconut), but you’ll have to select the preset you want by repeatedly pressing the program button until you select the one you want. It appears that the control panel can be selected by simply tapping the name, but only two buttons are touch sensitive. You can delay the start of the milking process so that you have a fresh supply of milk when you wake up, but you just set the delay, there is no real timer; There’s also no way to customize presets, so you can’t raise or lower the temperature of the mixture or adjust the grind time, which most plant-based milk lovers prefer to do manually.
The Tribest Soyabella looks like a slightly scaled-up electric kettle, and it’s a simple plant-based milk maker that can do other things, too, like make soups, infusions, and tofu. However, this is too simple: the only options are to prepare raw or warmed milk, selected using a pair of buttons on the top of the device. The top lifts up to reveal how the device works: the mixing arm and filter cup. To make a batch of milk, you need to pour up to 4 cups of water into a container and a cup of plant material into a filter cup that screws on and locks into place at the top. The blender then grinds the material and mixes it with water while the filter cup retains the plant pulp.
This process takes about a minute for raw milk and 15 to 25 minutes for hot milk, depending on how much water you add. Soyabella can handle three to five cups of water.
When finished, pour out the milk, remove the filter cup and discard the pulp. This works great. Although some sand does pass through, the filter bowl retains larger debris. I found the results of the suggested recipe to be relatively weak and weak; The instructions suggest doing the cycle two or three times for best results, which is a good idea. It would be nice if there was an option to set a longer mixing time. There’s also no automatic botanical soaking option, so you’ll have to do it manually.
This quick guide shows you how to use it to make soups, sauces, and soft tofu, as well as featured recipes for a variety of dishes. The kit also includes a grinding bowl that attaches to the blender arm for grinding dry ingredients.
Tribest Soyabella tried to be a jack of all trades, but couldn’t master any of them. It produces decent milk, but only if you run it two or three times. This seems a bit pointless since it requires a lot of extra work every time you use it.
The $245 Almond Cow looks like a slightly elongated cow-style electric kettle with a cow button on top that you press to activate. This is the only control: The Almond Cow, as the name suggests, is designed to produce milk from almonds, although it can work with other raw milk sources such as oats. It is impossible to prepare hot milk like soy milk. However, it is very effective at milking almonds, so it is a good choice if almonds are your only source of milk.
I tested the $325 Almonds ‘n’ Dates Starter Kit, which includes a milk maker and a few accessories like a pretty nice branded glass milk jug, cleaning brushes, and several packs of Coconut and Original Almonds ‘n’ creamy CocoCash. Date and milk mixtures sold by the company.
The process of getting milk from an electric cow is simple: add water (5 to 6 cups) to the container, place the dry ingredients in the strainer cup, screw it to the bottom of the lid so that the blender lever is in the ingredients, close the lid and press the button. The almond milk is then ground and mixed together, a process that takes a few minutes. When ready, the indicator on top will turn blue and the milk is ready. The pulp is stored in a colander, which can be removed and cleaned by hand. Comes with a collection cup that fits over the filter cup to prevent liquid from dripping everywhere. Containers should also be rinsed between uses.
I find the milk produced by the almond cow to be very tasty: the high-speed blender with multiple blades means the almonds are thoroughly ground, leaving virtually no grainy plant material behind. The milk comes out a little frothy, like an albino pint of Guinness. However, the foam settles quickly and 5 cups of Almond Cow should be enough for a family breakfast or an afternoon brew.
Speaking of coffee, you can also use a collection cup and a small amount of water to make creamer, which is a more concentrated mixture for those who prefer the consistency of their non-dairy creamer.
This mixture of two types of milk (almond cows call it “mixed milk”) produces delicious milk with a pleasant creamy taste. Creamy CocoCash is made with cashews, coconut and dates, while Original Almond ‘n’ Dates is made with almonds and dates. Both mixtures are easy to make, although they use a secret ingredient: a little rice flour to thicken the mixture.
After using the Almond Cow, there is a lot of cleaning work to do: clean the filter cup, rinse the top (milk will splash inside the container when mixed), and then clean the container itself. Unsurprisingly, the starter pack I tested also included an angled brush that helps clean the filter of sticky plant pulp.
I also found that when using larger ingredients, such as almonds, you will have to press the filter cup upwards very firmly to ensure it locks properly into place when attached to the top. This is because the blender blade is at the bottom of the cup and the nut can become stuck under the blade, preventing the twist lock from engaging properly. If the cup comes off while mixing, it will cause confusion and possibly damage the blade. I have found that the easiest way to avoid this is to gently shake the cup while it is on top to keep the material moving.
I also found that when you pour out the milk, the top of the almond cow has a habit of falling off when you tilt it to pour the last bits of milk out of the container. There is no locking mechanism to hold the lid in place, just gravity.
However, Almond Cow does its job effectively. It makes the required amount of mixed milk and does it quickly. However, it cannot process other types of milk that some machines can handle. You can only eat raw milk such as almonds, cashews and oatmeal.
The $199 Miomat is easy to use. Simply place the ingredients and water in a large container, close the lid, select a program and press Start. It takes about 15 minutes to prepare a batch of raw milk, and 25 minutes to prepare a batch of hot milk. Makes about 5 cups of each.
Miomat offers three milk options: raw, grain and soy. Raw milk is used for nut milk, and cereal produces milk from grains such as quinoa and rye, similar to the warm milk programs of other devices. As expected, the Soy Milk program is for soy milk, which requires a slightly lower temperature and longer cooking time than most hot milks. There are also programs for smoothies, soups (rough and smooth) and cereals, as well as cleansing cycles. In the latter case, you add water and a few drops of cleaning fluid, and the program heats the water and spins it to clean. I found that this wasn’t very effective: bits of plant material stuck to the bottom of the container where the heating element was, and the blender still required a lot of scrubbing and scrubbing afterwards to remove the stickier plant bits.
Inside the Miomat, the mixer is surrounded by a grinding cylinder, a round metal drum that forces material through blades to ensure complete extraction. This means the milk is well mixed but not filtered. Instead, use a fine mesh strainer that you can use to strain the milk. This method does mean that more material is emulsified: I have found that Myomat requires less plant material than Tribest or Almond Cow to produce the same rich milk. This is definitely a plus for expensive ingredients like almonds, but the downside is that you’ll have to filter it yourself: plant residues are not included.
One of the confusing aspects of Miomat is its measures. Included in the package is a measuring cup called the Myomat Cup, which is used for all recipes described in the manual. However, this is only half the size of a standard American cup. There are detailed instructions in the manual, but it can get confusing if you accidentally lose your Miomat cup or pick up the wrong cup. It will be easier to replace the measuring cups with US measuring cups and adjust the recipe.
You don’t always need to look for a technical solution to a problem. People have been making plant-based milks for thousands of years using milk bags such as reusable nut milk eco-bags. This is the simplest device I’ve ever tested: a fine food grade cotton bag used to filter plant material.
To use, simply soak the milk overnight, drain, blend in a high-speed blender to a fine paste, then pour into a milk carton in a bowl or jar. When you pour the liquid into the bag, the very finely ground part of the milk passes through the braid, while the coarser pulp remains inside the bag. Finally, lift the bag and gently squeeze out the remaining milk. If you like your milk creamier, you can leave it longer or add ingredients like coconut and rice flour to thicken it.
Sounds simple? This is true, but it is labor intensive. You’ll need a fast blender or food processor to puree the plant source. A hand mixer or margarita won’t do the job—you need speed and multiple cutting edges. It also takes time to soak, filter and grind enough plant source to produce milk. Plus, then you have to wash the bag by hand, and that’s not fun at all.
This process of preparing milk by hand can also go wrong. If the process of preparing hot milk goes wrong, severe intestinal rot can develop. If you squeeze the bag too hard, the starch will turn into sticky milk. But it’s much cheaper than the automatic I tested, making it a good, cheap option if you only need plant-based milk every now and then and don’t mind the need for elbow grease.
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Post time: Aug-09-2024