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Andrea Krahn's avatar

I once milked a rattlesnake. It was not my choice. I was under contractual obligation. It was “my job” on that particular day to hold the snake and smile. The man extracting the venom (for medicinal purposes, they use it to make anti-venom—no harm whatsoever done to the snake) was holding the reptile’s “neck” area and a sort of beaker was in front so that when snake threw the fangs and the venom shot out of his wide open mouth it was captured in the beaker. I realize this has absolutely nothing to do with actual milk be it dairy cow, goat, human female, nut, seed or kefir.

This is, however, my milk story. 😂

Since this sounds rather prankish I do have photos of myself and the rattlesnake and fangs, beaker, all of it.

Thank you! It’s not often I get to tell my rattlesnake history!

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Michelle Albanes-Davis's avatar

😂😂😂 I have an uncle whose job was to milk rattlesnakes for awhile so I totally get it. You painted one hell of a picture though! Id read a whole short story about your experience!

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GeezerWench's avatar

Now I'm wondering about trans men. I know a couple guys. Should they stay away from soy milk?

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Michelle Albanes-Davis's avatar

All the soy scares were 100% from the dairy industry. Nobody is growing tits from putting soy in their cereal, I promise you that.

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GeezerWench's avatar

What do you do with the "nut pulp"?

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Michelle Albanes-Davis's avatar

I've made crackers with it and dried it out and used it as a sort of nut flour cut into other baked good. I've never been thrilled with how anything turned out

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lindsey clay's avatar

Let's not forget the spread of misinformation on social media too. Ugh I swear 🙄 my friend the other day was saying she saw something online that was raging about the fact that oat milk has five grams of sugar. She was saying that made her feel uncomfortable. Well... mean less to say I blew her mind when I told her cows milk has more. It makes me sad that people like her see that and assume the worst. I'm sure that's what the dairy industry and others like because there's so much info out there. Also I'm with you on soy milk! It's becoming a fav of mine again.

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Jane Davis's avatar

totally agree about Soy milk also - I am a different person when I eat soy.( I don't want to tell any woman what to do but all period issues would stop when I stopped dairy and ate only soy)

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Michelle Albanes-Davis's avatar

Absolutely! The hit job on almond milk by the dairy industry gave rise to oat milk, not greater dairy consumption as they had hoped.

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Lucy's avatar

I’m an almond milk girl myself. As I was reading the article and thinking about govt dairy farm subsidies and the ever-powerful dairy lobby that convinced generations of Americans that their bones would just disintegrate without milk, I was ALSO thinking about one of my fave OG recipes from the first book— the horchata!!! Guys, Michelle nailed this one too. Go make it if you haven’t already.

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MaryJane's avatar

Nerd alert = cool person alert. This is a great read!

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WylieSwish's avatar

I adore your recipes!

But please put your name... logo, something... on your downloadable recipes! I will share this bad boy to others. And I wanna give the credit where it is due. Because Sheila.... will defiantly try to pass it off as her own! And I just ain't having that outta Sheila.... please keep me out of jail.

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Michelle Albanes-Davis's avatar

It’s coming!!!!!!!! I appreciate your vigilance tho ❤️

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SueJ's avatar

I’m chuckling over the phrase “humans domesticated the almond” envisioning lassos and a lot of “Yee-HAWs!” 😂 That said, lazy me has been enjoying Silk brand Almond-Coconut milk, tho the coconut milk is wonderful cooked in oatmeal.

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Michelle Albanes-Davis's avatar

😂 😂 😂

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Elizabeth Kathryn's avatar

Soy has and always will be my number one! I like that its a little creamy without all the oils of oat milk.

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Michelle Albanes-Davis's avatar

A soy renaissance is coming. I swear

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Bruce's avatar

Our local food coop has oat milk that has nothing but oats and water. It foams up great in the espresso machine!

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Bruce's avatar

We always do the first method, cuz we’re lazy. We never strain it - can’t stand the thought of losing all that nut goodness.

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Margaret Sommer's avatar

I love making my own milks! I prefer oat milk but have had no success making it.. Im going to try this with cashews! Thank you for another interesting and smart read!

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AnneRG's avatar

We found out the hard way that our daughter was crazy lactose intolerant when we tried switching to formula at 11 months. We ended up settling for hemp milk which we still use 5 years later in smoothies, pancakes, etc.

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Michelle Albanes-Davis's avatar

Hemp milk is awesome!! Do you guys make it/have a favorite recipe?

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AnneRG's avatar

No, we just buy it from Thrive Market.

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Beth Soltis's avatar

Super interesting history!! I am completely with you with all the oils in the various milks and coffee creamers. So frustrating. It's also impossible to find soy yogurt these days. I'm hoping for that soy comeback! Hopefully soon.

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Michelle Albanes-Davis's avatar

I know!!! Soy yogurt is my favorite. It’s going to make a come back. I swear

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Lisa Helene's avatar

I knew “alt milks” existed but never saw one made until my foster daughter from Honduras made oat milk. Love the idea of using nut butter as a shortcut. Many thanks!

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Feb 25, 2024
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Michelle Albanes-Davis's avatar

I think I might have to do a piece all about seed milks soon. People were more interested than I thought!

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Feb 24, 2024
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Michelle Albanes-Davis's avatar

I love this and will try it asap. Golden flax seeds are the best. I don’t understand why they aren’t more widely available. They’re completely superior to the brown ones in every way

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