Air fryers are so last year.
Yes, we all bought one during one of the Covid lockdowns, and yes, we all had fun making low-cal fries and very high-cal creme egg concoctions, but now many of those impulse purchases have assumed their destined role of expensive dust collector.
We’re ready for our next cult kitchen gadget. Allow me to present … the plant milk-maker.
Plant-based milks have been a major food trend of the last few years. Consumers now expect to see oat, almond and coconut milk available at cafés, and those who limit or eschew dairy have a growing range of supermarket options, too.
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But they are expensive and even if options are expanding, they’re still limited.
That’s where a home plant milk-maker comes in.
They’re already popular in the US, and are starting to take off in Australia, so we can expect to see them hitting our shelves soon.
So what are they, and what do they do?
Plant-based “milk” is a very broad church. It’s produced by dehulling, soaking, pureeing and straining the primary product so what you’re left with is a liquid derived from it, and this can be done to just about any nut, seed or legume.
And that’s what a home plant milk maker does. Typically, you add your product of choice to the machine and the machine does everything for you, up to and including, in some cases, discarding the pulp.
It’s kind of a like a cross between a food processor and a coffee maker.
Do I really need one?
Well, that depends. As with so many kitchen gadgets, plant milk makers are an all-in-one appliance that does a job that would otherwise take many more devices and much more effort.
You can in theory make your own plant milk at home, but it would involve soaking to the point where you can pulp your nuts or seeds in a standard blender, actually doing the blending, possibly boiling, and straining. It’s going to be a multi-day process, and you’re going to make a big mess.
Of course, you can also buy your plant milk, but if you drink it daily the initial cost of a machine will more than pay for itself pretty quickly, plus you avoid packaging and any additive nasties, and can play around with different products.
Bear in mind, however, that you still have shell out (ha!) for the primary product, which can be costly (hazelnuts, hemp, flaxseed) or fairly cheap (oats, split peas, rice).
What options are there?
Home plant milk makers aren’t readily available in Aotearoa yet (you can buy them, but they have to be ordered in from overseas at additional expense). But if we assume that the models that are popular internationally are likely to arrive here soon, here are a few of the kinds of things you can expect to see.
Almond Cow The Milk Maker
This gadget regularly features on “Best plant milk maker” lists out of the US. It’s a full kit for go-to-whoa processing, and even features ideas for what you can do with the pulp that’s left at the end to reduce waste.
Reviews rave about how easy to use it is and how versatile, but say the cleanup can be awkward since there are several parts of the componentry that can’t get wet.
ChefWave Milk Milkmade Dairy Alternative Vegan Milk Maker
Another perennial list-topper, this piece of kit looks a lot like a filter coffee machine. Fans love it because its so efficient, requiring smaller amounts of primary ingredients to produce the same amount of milk as other machines, and because it’s self-cleaning.
The ChefWave isn’t totally versatile, there are settings for each of almond, cashew, oat, soy, macadamia and coconut – but if you’re happy to stick to those, it’ll make your milk in 20 minutes.
Chef’n Nut Milk Maker
If you already have a heavy-duty blender you’re happy to use but don’t want to muck around too much with the rest of it, this is a good product for you.
You basically blend your nut, seed or legume of choice with water, then pour it into the Chef’n Nut, which strains and filters it into milk.
The apparatus, which resembles a pour-over coffee maker, doubles as a carafe for storing the milk.
