Growing up I was lactose intolerant and still don’t eat dairy. My son was introduced to dairy as a baby and it seems to agree with him. He is now a year and a half and drinks about three cups of milk a day. Because he also gets dairy from other sources like cheese and yogurt, I started making plant-based hemp milk to mix it up.

Why hemp milk?

Hemp milk has many known health benefits. It is also vegan if that’s important to you. I like ideas for alternatives to dairy but can’t send almond or cashew milk to daycare because of the nuts!

Hemp milk because it contains antioxidants and provides a full range of minerals and vitamins (including the ideal mix of Omega 3 and Omega 6), as well as all essential amino acids and digestible protein, making it a complete protein. I usually add molasses for iron, calcium and other minerals. Even though hemp milk is low in calcium, dairy isn’t the only source for it – other sources include dark leafy greens such as collards, spinach, turnip, bok choy, dried seaweed, sesame seeds, nopales (edible cactus), sardines and canned salmon, scallops, and home-made bone broth.

See the links below for more information about nutritional value.

My recipe for hemp milk

Ingredients

1 cup hemp seeds for every 4 cups filtered water

1 tsp molasses or to taste (optional, preferably unsulfured)

1 tsp honey or to taste (optional sweetener – I use fresh honey from my family’s honey bee farm)

Instructions

Add 1 cup of hemp seeds and 1 cup of water to a Vitamix, blending well to make sure the hemp seeds purée small enough. Then add rest of hemp seeds and strain with cheesecloth.

Put the milk back in the Vitamix to blend in the molasses and honey.

I reuse the cheesecloth a few times, washing it after each use.

Friendly reminder that honey is not safe for nursing mothers or infants under the age of one. See Dr. Pam’s posts on this at the Breast & Bottle Feeding link on this page.

Enjoy!

Information on nutritional value:

https://www.nutritionvalue.org/Seeds%2C_hulled%2C_hemp_seed_nutritional_value.html

https://www.nutritionvalue.org/Molasses_nutritional_value.html

https://www.nutritionvalue.org/Honey_nutritional_value.html