Remember drinking strawberry milk as a kid?
Me too!
Well I searched for a recipe the other day to make your own at home, and was starting to get really disappointed. A lot of the ones I saw basically just blended milk with strawberries.
If I'm not mistaken, isn't that called a smoothie?
Hmm no thanks.
But eventually I stumbled upon this recipe at The Kitchn and was mucho excited.
Totally brought me back to my childhood.
I decided to get a little crazy with it, though, and try some different flavors than just strawberry.
I bet you didn't know that blueberries are actually the state fruit of New Jersey?
Apparently, one of the early cultivators of the blueberry was from Jerz. And blueberries are still grown here, mainly in the Pine Barrens.
(Along with the Jersey Devil. Just sayin'.)
FYI - New Jersey is also known as the Garden State due to our agriculture - corn & tomatoes being two of the more popular crops.
Jersey is not just refineries and the Sopranos, people!
Anyway, now that you've learned something and I've properly 'repped' my home state, I'm pretty sure you can use half a cup of whatever berry you want - the traditional strawberry, or raspberries, blackberries, etc.
I actually made strawberry milk too, but mixed it with coconut milk for something different.
Use your imagination! :)
The bonus is that your kids will probably think it's super fun, and they'll never miss the artificial flavoring and boatloads of sugar.
Not to mention the blueberry one is purple and umm... that's just cool.
Blueberry Milk
- 1/2 C. fresh blueberries (or berries of your choice)
- 3-4 T. sugar, depending on how sweet you like (I actually used 2 T. Xylitol)
- 1/2 C. water
- 1 C. milk
(If you plan on drinking the milk immediately, I would recommend freezing 3 small glasses for a bit first, because the syrup will be warm and warm milk is ... well, yucky).
In a small saucepan, bring water, sugar, and blueberries to a boil over medium heat. Boil continuously for 5 minutes, then remove from heat.
Strain mixture into a bowl or measuring cup through a fine-mesh sieve, pushing the berries to release all liquid. (Reserve berries for baking recipes, or mixing into plain yogurt, smoothies, etc!)
Refrigerate syrup until cold (or cool slightly, then remove glasses from freezer). Set out 3 small glasses on counter, and place 2 T syrup in the bottom of each glass. Add 1/2 C. cold milk to each, stir, and enjoy!
Recipe adapted from The Kitchn
