Living Harvest Hempmilk
Every man is born an original, but sadly, most men die copies. ~Abraham Lincoln
Yet another plant "milk" is getting hyped up. This time it's hemp. Since we're not crazy about soy milk, we were a little skeptical about trying hemp milk. But we did.
Why drink hemp milk? It turns out that hemp milk has a lot of nutrients - its loaded with essential fatty acids Omega 3 and 6 (more than any other plant), and it's a good source of vegetarian protein since it has all 10 essential amino acids. In addition, it has magnesium, iron, potassium, fiber and phytonutrients, plus natural antioxidants like vitamin E. And its good for the planet since it's fast growing and doesn't require pesticides. Apparently it doesn't need a lot of watering since it has a large taproot, and it naturally suppresses weeds due to its tall canopy. It's also disease-resistant. Sounds amazing, doesn't it?
What is it? Plant milks aren't milk. They are whitish and hemp milk is served chilled, which is the closest similarity to milk that we can see. Most squeezed plants are known as juice, but whatever. Hemp milk comes from pressing tiny little hemp seeds.
How does it taste? It can be the healthiest thing in the world, but you probably won't drink it if you don't like it. We don't like additives in our food and we wanted to get the true flavor of it, so we chose the unsweetened original flavor. If you look closely you see little grainy looking things suspended in it. Make sure you shake well. We didn't like the first glass at all, partly because we were expecting it to taste more like milk. It doesn't. Get that idea out of your head! It's kinda creamy and a little grainy, and doesn't taste like anything else we've ever tried. We were ready to pour it down the drain and call it a day. However, in the spirit of research, we finished the box over the next week. The second glass was okay since we no longer expected it to taste like milk. And by the fourth glass, we kind of liked it. We even used it in cereal when we were out of regular dairy milk. Not bad. Though if it wasn't loaded with nutrients, we wouldn't drink it. But just because we don't love the stuff doesn't mean you won't.
Does it get you high? No. It doesn't contain any THC (the stuff in marijuana that gets you high).
What about allergies? Hemp has its own profile, so it doesn't mean you'll be allergic even if you're allergic to tree nuts, soy and dairy.
How much does it cost? It costs a little more than soy milk. In NYC, it's around $5 for a 32 oz. box.
So that's the scoop on hemp milk. We'll buy it occasionally in the future, but it won't be a regular drink in our refrigerator.
Want to learn more?
What I ate: macadamia nuts, latte, yogurt + blueberries + mangos + strawberries + sugar, chocolate croissant, coffee, baby carrot, babaganoush, white tea, brown rice, quinoa, stir-fried tofu + tempeh + broccoli + mushrooms + garlic, ginger snap, hot chocolate, water
Exercise: Ran 3 miles, 20 min. upper body weights
