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Now before we start, let鈥檚 get something straight. There is no such thing as 鈥渙at milk鈥�. Milk is defined as 鈥溾��. Since plants are certainly not mammals, drinks like almond milk, coconut milk and oat milk have all been mislabeled. Instead, their cartons should read 鈥渙at beverage鈥� or 鈥渙at drink鈥� but that doesn鈥檛 sell the milky illusion as well. But enough with the semantics, I鈥檓 not here to teach you about marketing but about how not to ruin your oat beverage.聽

What are oats?

We often hear how good oats are for our health and really, they deserve all the hype they get. They are easy to incorporate into one鈥檚 diet, low in fat and are a great source of fiber.

Dressed up with some berries, a bowl of oatmeal does make for a great breakfast, and some people even round off the meal with a tall glass of oat beverage that they probably paid too much for. So, why not make your own?

Cooking=chemistry

Before I give you any sort of recipe we must go over some chemistry, specifically biochemistry.

Oats are primarily starch (). This is their main carbohydrate component and is the most important part of our chemistry lesson today.

Starch is composed of two carbohydrate components:

• : Unbranched form of starch made from repeated glucose units linked together by alpha-1,4 bonds (meaning carbon 1 and carbon 4 of two adjacent glucose units are linked through a sugar-linking bond, as seen in figure 1)

• : Branched form of starch made from repeated glucose units linked together by alpha-1,4 and alpha-1,6 bonds (as seen in figure 2). It is the major component of a starch molecule.

Starch serves as , and now we can understand why. Since it is composed of several glucose units linked by bonds, all we would have to do is break these bonds to liberate the glucose. This is exactly what our body does when digesting starchy foods. Starch molecules are too big and complex to digest as is, thus our body uses an enzyme (amylase) to break it down into more digestible pieces, the glucose units. The glucose is then converted by our body鈥檚 cells.

Starch naturally exists in a , which essentially orders the amylose and amylopectin into a 鈥渂ubble鈥�. This compact form allows for many to be packed in plant material, maximising the energy storage capacity of that plant.

Now we have a basic understanding of starch. Let鈥檚 not burst the bubble just yet.

30 seconds, no more, no less

Making oat beverage is ridiculously easy. All you need is oats, water, a blender and a cheese cloth (or some sort of straining material).

Combine oats with cold water (roughly 1:4 ratio) in a blender. Now comes the tricky part. Blend for and strain.

I was always the type of person to think that strict time limits are hilarious. Would the world end if you blended for 31 seconds? What about 35 seconds? In this case, the world wouldn鈥檛 end but your chance in succeeding at making oat beverage would. And the reason for that is, you guessed it, is chemistry!

Blending agitates the . With increased energy comes increased temperature which is detrimental to achieving a milk-like texture for this beverage. This is because of a process known as

As the name suggests, it involves a mixture of starchy liquid adopting a gelatin-like texture. This occurs when heat is added to suspended starchy solutions, causing the starch , releasing their contents into the liquid. The starch in solution now causes the liquid to thicken, ruining the attempt at emulating the texture of milk. This process is certainly desired in some recipes that require sauce thickening, but certainly not for making oat beverage.

This is why is listed as an ingredient on several oat beverage cartons (such as ). As mentioned, it is one of the enzymes our body uses to break down starch, thus will in the beverage as it sits on shelves.

In some people even add 鈥渄igestive enzymes鈥� to the mixture before blending. I say that鈥檚 overkill. Use ice cold filtered water and stick to the 30 second limit.

And remember you can always try again. There鈥檚 no use crying over ruined oat beverage.

蔼鈥孉苍驳别濒颈苍补尝补辫补濒尘别

Angelina Lapalme is a BSc student majoring in Bio-Organic Chemistry at 麻豆传媒网站.

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