Blog Update!
For those of you not following me on Facebook, as of the Summer of 2019 I've moved to Central WA, to a tiny mountain town of less than 1,000 people.

I will be covering my exploits here in the Cascades, as I try to further reduce my impact on the environment. With the same attitude, just at a higher altitude!

Wednesday, February 27, 2008

My hemp, my hemp, my toasty tasty hemp

What you gon' do with all that hemp? All that hemp inside your drink?Mr. Crunch and I went and tried out a new coffee shop close to Crunchy HQ. Not only does it serve fabulously organic, fair-trade Stumptown Coffee it carries something called, Hempmilk. I noticed it as there was a little sign advertising the intriguingly named, "Hempuccino".

Never the shy one to ask for far more details than the average chicken, I inquired within. And we were both served samples of Hempmilk. Well, I'm here to report that it's actually surprisingly tasty. It's a toasty, nutty, creamy little concoction and not as cloying as soymilk.

It's made from hemp seeds and purportedly contains 46 percent of your daily calcium and 43 percent of your phosphorus in one 8 oz serving.

If you're too damn cheap to buy it off the shelf or you just want to cut down on packaging (no throwaway asceptic containers here) you can make it yourself. I bet you can use a soymilk maker to make it, too.

There's no guarantee that it will taste like the manufactured product, but then again, you control the ingredients. Assuming you can get yer hands on them. Finding bulk hemp seeds may prove to be a tad difficult south of the border. And I'm talkin' the 49th parallel around these parts. Well, at the very least, here's another good reason to move to Canada. Or get on Greenabis' good side.

Now, I'm not about to switch from good old-fashioned organic, local milk (here is where I, once again, irritate a handful of vegans), but it would be a good alternative to all those out there who don't do moo and who are allergic to soy. If I were vegan (again), it would be tops on my list of milk substitutes. It doesn't have the chalky, beany flavor of soymilk and it's not watery like rice and almond milk.

Has anyone else tried this stuff yet?

20 comments:

Anonymous said...

Crunchy - -
is this hemp foodstuff the same hemp plant that ropes were made of?
I just can't see eating those??
Interesting to know that there is an alternative to rice and soy though.

Anonymous said...

I never would have thought that hemp would produce a milk-like drink! Intriguing. Soy milk is drinkable if you get the chocolate soy. I've tried vanilla and found it gagging.

Unknown said...

we love hemp milk. and im pretty sure you can order hemp seeds and different forms in bulk at your local coop, i have a freind who sprinkles them on all her salads.

Anonymous said...

Crunchy HQ is in Canada? I thought you were in Seattle...

I found I only like some brands of soy milk. This sounds really neat to try, thanks for the heads up!

Chile said...

One vegan cookbook author (Bryanna Clark Grogan) resolved the beany soymilk taste by using a little bit of oats and sweet rice in with her soybeans. That mutes the taste without ending up with watery non-soy non-dairy drinks. Just a thought.

Anonymous said...

Oo that sounds really good. But I am with you on the farm fresh organic milk. My friend takes great care of her cows and prefers the milk to be delivered in reusable glass jars. We even get the milk delivered personally.
Cindy in FL

Sam said...

I saw a container of hemp milk last weekend at the store and was tempted to get a container to try it. But I took had a vision of cloth bags and ropes and was a bit nervous - plus its something new and I am very conservative. I think I will try it out based on your experience. I don't have any loyalty to anyone type of milky product.

April said...

Okay, I didn't read the post yet, because I can't stop singing your new version of that song. Geesh, you crack me up....that's my way of saying LOL, which I refuse to use, because I feel stupid saying/typing it.

Anyway, that's my meaningless comment for the day.

Carry on.

Anonymous said...

I use powdered hemp protein in my watery ricemilk smoothie in the morning. It's great stuff! High in fiber, good for the highly allergic intestinal system.

Now for my question. I make my own rice milk; is there a use for the leftover rice grindings other than compost?

Anonymous said...

Not yet... but both rice and soy were out of the question for an avid milk fan like me!

Anonymous said...

One quick warning: if you need to take a drug test for your job, you should avoid all hemp food products. As you might not know, the residue makes the tests look as though you are smoking a fair amount of marijuana.

I know bc. I once bought hemp chips for my husband -- who has random drug tests at his workplace. Boy, did he set me straight on this. Thank god he didn't eat any (we fed them to the kids --- can you spell irresponsible parenting!)

Like poppy seeds...hemp is not for everyone!

Crunchy Chicken said...

Anonymous - according to the Living Harvest website:

Will I flunk a drug test if I consume Hemp food products?

No. You will not flunk a drug test using Living Harvest™ hemp food products. We guarantee that there is 0.00% THC in our hemp foods. All hemp seeds harvested for Living Harvest™ food products is bred with low THC content and is monitored by the Government of Canada.

Catherine said...

Wow, cue the twilight zone music. I just got done reading an article in this month's Diet and Nutrition mag about hemp as food. The overall impression I got is that it has some good stuff, but not all of it is easily available to our bodies so beware of calling it the new superfood. They said that if it weren't for the whole marijuana association that hemp could possibly have become what soy is today. Also, they go into some detail about why hemp is not marijuana. Interesting stuff.

Anonymous said...

oh, almond milk isn't watery at all if you make it yourself! you just soak almonds for 12 hours, rinse them, run them in the blender with the amount of water you desire, and strain through cheesecloth. we love brazil nut milk, too.

Brande said...

Heck yes! Hemp milk rocks. My husband is a total hemp-o-phile. He's the manager of a natural food store in Central New York and they carry bulk hemp seeds, hemp milk (Vanilla, Chocolate, and Original), hemp tortillas, hemp bread, hemp protein powder, hemp pretzels (peanut butter filled, sourdough, pumpernickel, garlic, etc...), hemp nut butter, and a ton of non-food hemp products too. We *love* the stuff.
My favorite thing about hemp is that the seeds can be added to almost any food to give an extra dose of good fats, omegas, complete protein, and fiber. Seriously, we put it on/in everything from pizza to chili to paninis.

....I now know what the subject of my next blog will be, lol.

Brande said...

Forgive me for the shameless business plug (I can't help it!), but if anyone wants to buy any of the hemp products at Hubby's store, he can ship them. I know its not necessarily the greenest thing to do (depending on distance), but you're supporting a *great* store and a great industry [hemp]. Just let me know if anybody wants some. :-)


PS: The whole "hemp will make you fail a drug test" thing is bogus. Check out this link: http://www.testpledge.com/foods.htm

Also, most hemp hemp companies (such as Manitoba Harvest, Living Harvest, Hempzels, Merry Hempsters) stringently test their product to ensure that THC levels are far below any testable amount.

Rechelle said...

Oh Crunchy - you haven't lived until you have squeezed a handful of DIRT into a cup and added a bit of water to make it more creamy. Now that is a good milk subsitute! Or sometimes, I finely grate a few wood shavings into my morning coffee, but I m somewhat concerned about harming the forests this way. Occasionally and ONLY occasionally when I am feeling like such a BAD GIRL I will melt a few tennis shoes down over an open fire and pour that over our morning oatmeal. It doesn't irritate the vegans at all and it has such a pleasant burning rubbery taste. Yum!

Anonymous said...

OMG! Geesh and LOL! How quickly one can go from sobbing quietly at her desk after reading this post

http://longlivethevillagegreen.blogspot.com/2008/02/upon-rack-of-this-tough-world.html

to nearly peeing on her chair in fits of hilarity after reading Rechelle's comment.

Oh how I love the internets!

Anonymous said...

Yes- I love the stuff- especially chocolate hemp milk. Mmmm it's good- so much better than soy milk!
Sylvia

Lisa said...

Hemp is great!!!! Soy is not good for us, it may cause cancer and just is not good stuff. I talked to a health food store owner in Canada and he said most of them are not carrying soy anymore and are going to all hemp stuff. Soy is always GMO now by the way, even organic.

Hemp can be used for everything and in case anyone reads this and thinks hemp and pot are the same thing they aren't they are different plants. Our wonderful government has made it illegal for dumb reasons that aren't even true but you can buy it here just can't grow it. But that makes it cost more and harder to find.