I hope you all had a wonderful 4th of July weekend. We spent ours at the beautiful, charming, and magical Dunton Hot Springs celebrating our friends’ nuptials. The 3-day getaway was with a seriously awesome group of people, and it rounded out our 10-day Colorado vacation in the best of ways. Fresh air, stunning scenery, lots of laughs, and love in the air. Doesn’t get much better.
Last week was the first time since December of 2013 that I posted just once in a week, so I apologize for being a bit MIA on the blog and quiet on social media. More than ever, I needed the time off to hit the reset button as I had been feeling exhausted and spread a bit thin. Colorado turned out to be the perfect setting to rejuvenate and refresh, and I’m full of inspiration for recipes and photography. It’s amazing what a little time off and some fresh air can do for creativity and the soul, isn’t it?
I’m kicking off this week with a simple and plant-powerful recipe. This vanilla-cardamom buckwheat milk is luxuriously creamy and offers a subtle warmth and sweetness. To make it, you’ll start by soaking raw buckwheat groats with water and a splash of apple cider vinegar (or fresh lemon juice) for at least 8 hours or overnight. Soaking the buckwheat with a splash of vinegar (i.e., acid) makes it easier to digest which affords our bodies more direct access to the vitamins and minerals within those heart-shaped little groats.
Once the buckwheat has been soaked, it’s drained, rinsed, and added to a high-speed blender along with 3 cups of filtered water. If you like thinner plant milk, opt for 3 1/2 cups. If you like richer, creamier plant milk, opt for 2 1/2 cups. Once you have the buckwheat and water in the blender, give it a powerful whirl until it’s super smooth and a bit frothy.
Then, drape a nut milk bag or piece of cheesecloth across a glass bowl and pour the liquid over top. Use your hands to squeeze the plant milk from the nut milk bag or cheesecloth, separating the creamy liquid from the dense buckwheat pulp. You can reserve the pulp to add to oats, smoothies, granola, etc.
Once you have the liquid reserved in a bowl, pour it back into the blender along with pure maple syrup (or soaked dates), ground cardamom, cinnamon, and a pinch of sea salt. Briefly blend again until incorporated, pour into an airtight jar or pitcher, and refrigerate. You’ll notice that the solids will separate from the liquids (this is completely normal but looks a little funny), so just give it a good shake before serving. It lasts up for 4 days if stored in an airtight jar and is excellent all on its own or poured over cereal, oats, granola, etc.
Vanilla-Cardamom Buckwheat Milk
Ingredients
- 1 cup raw buckwheat groats
- 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
- 3 cups filtered water
- 2 tablespoons pure maple syrup
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1/4 teaspoon ground cardamom
- 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- pinch sea salt
Instructions
- In an airtight container, combine the buckwheat groats and apple cider vinegar. Cover with warm water and soak for 8 hours or overnight. Drain and thoroughly rinse with cool water.
- In a high-speed blender, combine the buckwheat groats and the filtered water. Blend on high until completely smooth (3 to 4 minutes).
- Place a nut milk bag over a large pitcher, and pour the blended buckwheat milk through the bag. Use your hands to squeeze excess milk from the bag. If desired, run it through a second time to remove any excess buckwheat pulp.
- Pour the milk back in the the blender and add the maple syrup, vanilla, cardamom, and cinnamon. Blend on high for 15 seconds to incorporate spices. Pour into an airtight jar or jug and refrigerate for up to 4 days. The solids will separate out from the liquids, so it's important to shake before serving.
Holy Moley! This milk was made for me! Love buckwheat so much!
yes!! i have never made buckwheat milk but i have a big bag of groats and can’t wait to try. i am a sucker for overnight buckwheat porridge. Hope you got some R&R… sounds like a super fun weekend. xo
Ooh! ♥ this! I’m also looking forward to try it out. Isn’t homemade plant milk fantastic? I’m such a sucker for it. Thanks for the recipe, Ashley ;-)
Wondering if I missed something because I just made this and it’s terrible. Tastes like chalk. Normally, I love your recipes.
I’m so sorry to hear that it didn’t turn out for you. Buckwheat does have an acquired taste and is more pungent in flavor than other plant milks (e.g., oat, almond, soy). I would try adjusting the sweetness and maybe adding in a bit more vanilla. Again, I’m so sorry you’re not enjoying it. The only other thing I can think of is if you used toasted buckwheat groats instead of raw it would have an intense kind of earthy/chalky flavor.
You can also add in another 1/2 to 1 cup of water if it’s too thick. The 3 to 1 (water-to-buckwheat) ratio yields a thicker milk but a 4 to 1 ratio will lighten it up a bit. And if that still doesn’t work, you could try running it through a nut milk bag one more time. Mine has a very tight weave but others can bit looser and miss more of the “grit” from blending.
This looks awesome and easy to make, my son is allergic to dairy and soya and currently has hemp milk but I am going to try making him this tomorrow. Thanks for the recipe :-)
loove this so simple and delicious :)
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Considering making this but, I’m allergic to vinegar and don’t understand why it’s used. Anything else I could use instead?
Thanks.
Hi, BettyJane! The vinegar serves as an acidic medium to remove the phytic acid from the buckwheat. Fresh lemon juice works just as well and would be a great substitute to the vinegar. Hope this helps!
Thanks so much for sharing, lovely recipe!
Just made this and it’s delicious! I didn’t have a nut bag (but processed it with a thermomix which seemed to do the trick) and replaced the maple syrup with two dates and it’s come out very creamy and just divine. thanks
I made this recipe but it turned out REALLY watery. I strained it with paper towels instead of a nut milk bag which could be why. Would you suggest I mix some of the pulp back in?
Hi, Natasha! Yes, it’s definitely because you used paper towels to strain (they won’t let much, if any, pulp through). I’d recommend adding some pulp back in and using a nut milk bag next time if you can.
I’m new to buckwheat, but want to try this! So… you don’t have to cook the buckwheat at all??
Nope! Just soak it. :)