Vegan Horchata | Mexican-style Cinnamon Milk Drink

Nut-free | Gluten-free | Sugar-free | Dairy-free | Vegan

Makes 1 lt (2 pints) of milk 

Why it’s delicious

Tiger Nuts are a sweet tuber that makes the most delicious non-dairy milk. Combined with cinnamon, this Mexican style beverage is incredibly healthy and wonderfully tasty. 

Health Benefits of Tiger Nuts 

Tiger nut is not a nut at all, but actually a tuber or very small root that grows underground, so it's nut free and what is known as a functional food as it has a whole host of health benefits including something I want to introduce to you called resistant starch. 

Resistant starches act very similar to soluble fibres and tiger nuts are in fact a prebiotic. 

They are called resistant starch as they pass straight through the stomach and small intestine without being digested, so they resist digestion and are able to then go into our large intestine and help feed the probiotics that live there. 

Eating resistant starches will boost your prebiotics and help feed your probiotics so you are looking after your gut ecosystem. 

Tiger nuts will not only help to improve your healthy gut bacteria but a study published in 2015 in the journal of advances in nutrition  showed that consumption of foods high in resistant starch were also beneficial in reducing abdominal or belly fat. 

The same study concluded that resistant starch helps to improve our insulin sensitivity, making your body less insulin resistant. Insulin resistance means our body has such high levels of insulin that we stop using stored fat as energy and  insulin also encourages the growth of NEW fat cells, so insulin resistance keeps us fat and makes us fatter! 

Resistant starch improves our insulin sensitivity which means we are able to access our fat stores which means fat loss and weight loss.

Resistant starch is great for diabetics, pre diabetics, weight loss and weight maintenance. 

Tiger Nuts help to lower blood glucose levels with research now showing that keeping stable blood glucose levels is also vital for keeping your brain young and healthy as well as maintaining a healthy weight.

The resistance starch in tiger nuts can also lower your risk of colon cancer as well as helping to reduce appetite. 

Ingredients

1. 140 g (5 oz)  unpeeled raw tiger nuts
2. 1 lt (2 pints) filtered water
3. 2 tbsp cinnamon powder + extra for sprinkling . 
4. 2 tbsp Pure as Inulin Powder
5. 2 tsp pure vanilla extract

Method

1. Soak the tiger nuts in the filtered water for 24 hours. 
2. Place the tiger nut and soaking water in a high speed blender and blend on high for 1 minute. If you do not have  a high speed blender, blend ¼ of the nuts and water in a food processor at a time for 1-2 minutes, getting the nuts as fine as possible. 
3. Using a clean chux cloth, cheesecloth or nut bag, strain the liquid from the ground nuts into a jug. Squeeze the cloth to extract as much milk as possible from the nuts. Store the milk in a sealed jar or bottle in the fridge for up to 1 week. 
4. Do not discard the ground nuts! Spread the ground nuts and cloth on to a flat baking sheet, spreading the nut mixture out flat and leave the ground nuts to dry for 1-2 hours. Store the ground nuts in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 2 weeks and use in replacement of almond flour or other gluten free flours in your baking. You can use this flour in breads, muffins, cakes or pancakes. 
5. To make the cinnamon milk, whisk together the remaining ingredients till frothy. Taste for flavour, adding more cinnamon and inulin if you deem necessary.  
6. Serve this drink chilled or over ice with a sprinkle of cinnamon powder on top.