Koji Oat Milk
Kirsten Shockey of ferment.works and The Fermentation School demonstrated at Kojicon today how simple it is to make even-better-than-regular oat milk, just by adding a little koji to the mix.
I’ve been wanting to experiment with koji and oats for a long time now, and this was just the motivation I needed to make it happen.
Here’s her recipe in imperial volumetric units:
- 1 cup rolled oats
- ½ cup rice koji
- 5 cups water
- pinch of salt and vanilla, optional
Heres my version in metric:
- 100g rolled oats
- 50g rice koji
- 1L water
- 2g salt
I blended mine for 30 seconds or so, enough to increase the surface area to optimize things a bit. I’ve poured this mixture into a large glass jar (roughly 2L):
This is going into a water bath set to 135°F/57°C for 14 hours (lid loosened).
14 Hours Later
It always looks a little… unappetizing at first. But after blending again and then straining through a nut milk bag, it looks like, well, oat milk. There was very little leftover as solids after straining.
But now, I know what you want to know:
How does it stack up to the leading commercial brand?
I tasted it side-by-side with a certain well-known brand with “Oat” right in the name. One of the most obvious differences is that mine tastes way more “oaty”, even though there’s some rice in there too. Other differences from the store bought stuff:
- Slightly sweeter, but I wouldn’t consider it “sweet”
- Less creamy
- Some very small particulates, not 100% smooth
By no means does any of that mean it isn’t as good, it’s just different. I’m particularly impressed with the oat flavor—tasting it side-by-side, the store bought stuff was bland by comparison.
