* GRACE *

Homemade Brown Rice Milk

I’ve looked for a good rice milk recipe that I could make myself rather than buying it. I found a few, and I couldn’t seem to get them right. My husband was great at making it, so I let him do it for quite a while…then he made me make it myself! [Thanks, I love ya, honey!] It’s really easy, and very inexpensive to make! My kids love rice milk with their cold and hot cereals since they can’t tolerate the dairy. I use rice milk to replace milk in some recipes like smoothies, breads, cookies, cakes, frosting, etc… Water does just as well in most of those too. Rice milk doesn’t do as well with things like pudding though. We tried it with pudding and had just a runny mess. lol

Homemade Brown Rice Milk
16 cups Water
1 cup Brown Rice (organic long grain is the best)
Vanilla, to taste (optional)
1/2 Sucanat or other equivalent sweetener (honey makes it less dark)
6 clean quart Bottles, rings, and lids (used lids are fine) – or use other containers that hold 24 cups (1 1/2 gallons)

Cook rice in the water in a big stock-pot on medium-high for about 45 minutes to an hour until the rice is very soft. You can allow it to cool some if you don’t want to pour very hot rice water into a blender, but don’t cool for longer than an hour. Rice is food for bacteria and mold if left long.

Put boiled rice and water (DO NOT DRAIN!) in a blender (we have a Vitamix). Add sucanat and a touch of vanilla to taste, if desired. Blend and increase to highest setting for a couple of minutes to pulverize the rice and make it a syrup. A regular blender should work, but you may want to process it much longer than a couple of minutes. Caution: it will remain hot! If you still have some chunks left, strain them out. (With a good blender like a Vitamix or BlendTec, there is no need for that unless your prefer it.) Sometimes I blend in 2 batches because it didn’t boil down as much, but I make sure to pour it all together in a gallon pitcher before distributing it among the quart jars.  Some of my family (mainly me) prefer to strain it in a sieve before distributing it among the jars or sweetening it.

I check the amount of rice mixture I’ve blended and then divide it by 6. What you have blended will not fill all 6 quarts, but divide it among them equally. Then add some cool water to fill them to just below the bottle’s neck. Put lids and rings on. Keep refrigerated for up to a week. (Our rice milk rarely lasts that long.) Enjoy!