SC - oop/non dairy milk

[Anne-Marie Rousseau]

Hiya from Anne-Marie
We are asked re: using nondairy "milk" products:
> I use arrowroot or cornstarch to to thicken the puddings, but it seems
that
> they just don't "set" properly.

part of the process of thickening is the coagulation of the milk proteins
or caseins. This is why while you can thicken a water based sauce (like in
stir fry) with cornstarch or arrowroot, you cant make it thick enough to
slice. Well, you can, but yu use so much starch it tastes nasty...

"rice" milk from the health food store (ditto "almond" milk they sell,
which isnt really almond milk, but is soy or rice milk with almond
flavorings added) does not contain caseins, so you need to add something
else to coagulate, or else thicken through other means. Egg would
coagulate, and the medieval books say that tr4ue almond milk can be made
into cheese. I've gotten mine thick enough to be a soft peak (uses a LOT of
almonds). Adding particulates (ground almonds, etc) will help thicken too.

If its not a drop dead if you're wrong kind of allergy/intolerance, you
might try goat milk. The fat globules are much smaller, and so are easier
for tummies to digest (which is a big part of the intolerance thang), and
for SOME people, the proteins are different enough that they dont have any
trouble. Goat milk sets up great, and if you get it fresh, has very little
taste difference from cow (I used to do taste tests with my friends...give
them whole cows milk and 4% butterfat goat milk and they could tell they
were different but couldnt tell me which was which). You can even find it
up to 10-12% butterfat if you arteries can handle it (that's the stuff I
grew up on...*sigh*...)ahhhh....goatmilk icecream with fresh bing cherries
from the tree out back.....

hoep this helps some. for more on how food works, check out "Kitchen
Science" by Howard Hillman, or "CookWise" by Shirley Corriher.
- --AM, who uses her science education every day :)
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