Vegan, non-dairy milk substitutes are referred to as 'milks.' Dairy alternative milk substitutes can be used in baking in place of milk or turned into cheese, kefir, or yogurt by adding yogurt cultures. 

Make your own non-dairy 'milk' substitutes from nuts, soy, oats, brown rice, hemp, almonds, hazelnuts, walnuts, sesame seeds, sunflower seeds, or peanuts and peanut butter. 

Almond Milk Made Easy 

Soak a half cup of whole raw almonds (with the skins on) in a quart jar of water in your refrigerator for at least six hours. Pour out the water and pour a fresh quart of filtered water into your blender. Add the soaked almonds and liquefy in your blender. You do not need to sweeten almond milk.

Natural Sweetening Suggestions

To sweeten almond ‘milk’, add a half cup of cherries, strawberries, figs, or raspberries, sliced mangos, a banana, a half cup of sliced melon, or your favorite sweetener, such as a tablespoon of honey, blackstrap molasses, apple juice concentrate, pomegranate juice, or maple syrup.

More ideas: add a handful of cherries, strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, dried cranberries, dates, figs, or other dried fruits. Or add half of a banana and/or sliced mangos before you blend.

Spice it Up

As an alternative to a sweetener for almond milk, try spices. For example, add a 1/4th teaspoon of ground cinnamon and a 1/4th teaspoon of ground cloves. You could also add a 1/4th teaspoon of ground turmeric and a 1/4th teaspoon of ground ginger instead of sweeteners along with the cinnamon and cloves.

Almonds may be mixed with a handful of ground roasted peanuts, or the same quantity of sesame seeds, walnuts, hazelnuts, or a tablespoon of sunflower seeds, pecans, cashew nuts, or any other type of nuts. Brazil nuts are an especially nutritious choice. Try blending almonds with a variety of nuts.

You can buy already made hemp milk, hazelnut milk, rice milk, almond milk, and oat milk. The problem is that in the ready-made milks sold commercially, salt is added along with other items you may not want, and unless you buy unsweetened soy milk, the hemp and hazelnut or almond and rice milks usually add sugar or other sweeteners rather than fresh fruit.

Commercial nut, seed, and grain milks may stand for months on a supermarket shelf and contain ingredients you may not want such as salt or sweeteners. Making your own saves money and gives you the freshest, most nutritious ‘milks’.

Article courtesy of Voices.Yahoo.com, found here.