“Hemp milk” as a plant-based milk substitute is free of lactose, milk protein, soy, cholesterol and gluten – good nutritional values ​​make the hemp drink an exciting milk alternative for people with food allergies.

Hemp was banned in Europe for a long time due to its components with intoxicating effects and was almost completely ousted from domestic fields. The ancient cultivated plant and its seeds provide very nutritious grains that are healthy because they contain many essential amino acids, are rich in minerals and vitamins and are ideal for oil extraction.

Finely ground and mixed with water, the seeds are used as “hemp milk” – which is sold under the name hemp drink or drinking hemp. Strictly speaking, according to EU legislation, the term “hemp milk” should not be used at all, as the term “milk” is reserved for animal milk from cows, sheep, goats or horses. We use the term in this article as most consumers use it in common parlance.

Hemp milk – what is it?

Hemp milk actually consists only of hemp seeds (sometimes also hemp oil), water, some salt and rice syrup or tapioca starch for binding and sweetening. The peeled hemp seeds are ground into flour and mixed with water, salt and sweeteners. The fine paste is stirred until a homogeneous liquid is formed.

In order to make the hemp drink durable, emulsifiers are sometimes added to industrially manufactured products. With peeled hemp seeds, there is no filtering of the hemp milk, which means that the healthy components of the hemp seeds are also preserved in the hemp drink.

The purely plant-based, i.e. vegan milk substitute is free of lactose, milk protein, soy, cholesterol and gluten and is therefore a good alternative for people with food allergies.

Recipe: Make hemp milk yourself

You can easily make hemp milk yourself in your own kitchen, here is the recipe:
shelled hemp seeds
water
a pinch of salt
Depending on your taste, sweeteners (e.g. dates, rice syrup or coconut blossom sugar)
Depending on your taste, add some vanilla or cinnamon for a special touch
That’s how it’s done:
Use 1 tablespoon of hemp seeds for every 100 milliliters of water.
Place the ingredients in a blender.
Whisk them together until you get a creamy liquid.
The hemp milk is ready and can be stored in the refrigerator for about two to three days.

How healthy is hemp milk as a milk substitute?

In addition to omega-3 fatty acids, hemp seeds also contain gamma-linolenic acid, an omega-6 fatty acid that is considered healthy and a fountain of youth for the cells. And unlike the processing of other milk substitutes, hemp milk does not need to be filtered when using hulled hemp seeds. This means that the valuable components of the hemp seeds are also preserved in the hemp drink. In addition to polyunsaturated fatty acids, these are mainly potassium, magnesium and essential amino acids.

As with many milk substitute products (such as oat milk or almond milk), hemp milk, which is basically very healthy, also lacks calcium. For babies and growing children, feeding this milk substitute exclusively is therefore not recommended. In the case of a vegan diet, the supply should be ensured through other sources of calcium.

Nutritional values: This is in hemp milk

Looking at the nutritional values, hemp milk is relatively high in fat compared to other plant-based milk alternatives. However, the milk substitute contains very few carbohydrates and, unsweetened, almost no sugar. With around 40 kilocalories per 100 milliliters of hemp drink, drinking hemp is not necessarily one of the slimmers, but it contains fewer calories than other milk alternatives.

And because the energy comes mainly from slowly utilized unsaturated fatty acids, hemp milk fills you up and prevents food cravings. Depending on the product, milk alternatives contain about one gram of protein and three grams of fat, 80 percent of which are unsaturated fatty acids. Since the hemp drink is made from peeled hemp seeds, it does not contain any fiber, which would be healthy to eat.

Hemp milk and sustainability

As a very old cultivated plant, hemp is extremely undemanding and resistant to pests. As a rule, no pesticides have to be used during cultivation, which is why hemp is ideal for organic farming.

The hemp plant also thrives on almost any soil, so that hemp seeds from the region can always be processed and the transport routes are short.

So hemp milk scores in terms of sustainability. The only thing you should pay attention to is the packaging – manufacturers with glass bottles are preferable to those with beverage cartons.