When Andrew Whatman tested, he made three types of milk from each. For the almond milk, he used unroasted, unsalted almonds. For the cashews, he used unroasted, unsalted cashews. For the macadamia, he used dry roasted unsalted macadamia nuts. I used old fashioned rolled oats, unsalted raw almonds and unsweetened coconut pieces.
For the machines, we looked for well-engineered products that would last a long time, as well as ergonomic and intuitive designs. Many of these required separating and thoroughly cleaning machine parts, especially because soft plant matter can tend to stick. Any machine that had a thoughtful design with cleaning was rated higher.
I also took into account the time required to produce the milk, as well as the ease of use of the product (and ease of cleanup). We also examined taste and smoothness by comparing it to store-bought milk. I also added additional sweeteners like agave, dates, and lavender simple syrup to see how the flavor changed with each machine.
This freshly made plant and nut based milk will have a shorter shelf life than the plant milk you buy at the store (usually about five days) due to the lack of added preservatives. We were looking for machines that were not just blenders, but were specifically designed to make the best plant-based milk possible.
