Toronto Star

Why not milk an oat?

Handmade, tasty oat milk also comes in cinnamon and chocolate cashew oat

- MICHELE HENRY STAFF REPORTER

We’re well acquainted with soy, almond and even cashew beverages — but oat is fast becoming a non-dairy milk contender. Drink your porridge, perhaps? “It’s so soft and cleansing and makes you go to the bathroom nicely,” says oat milk entreprene­ur Jackie Nguyen, 39, with a mischievou­s grin. “It’s like soap for your innards.” A mild, non abrasive, edible kind of cleanser, perhaps, which customers have been guzzling.

Since Christmas 2016, when Oatkey Dokey first appeared on the shelves at a variety of small retailers around the city, Nguyen, a mother of three small children, has been in a commercial kitchen between 10 p.m. and 3a.m. a couple of days a week making the oat milk.

She blitzes and strains about 100 bottles a week.

Nguyen’s four flavours — oat, cinnamon, cinnamon cashew oat and chocolate cashew oat — are neutralhue­d beverages, poured into slender, glass bottles with labels designed by a local artist.

They lure shoppers away from other boxed milk alternativ­es.

Good thing — this brand’s a newcomer on the market.

With three lactose-intolerant kids and a picky husband, Nguyen began tinkering with ingredient­s, such as oats, nuts and dates, in her Vitamix a couple of years ago.

She served some to a vegan employee at Stellar Cellular — the College St. cellphone repair company she’s owned for about six years — and got rave reviews.

Other testers loved it too, so Nguyen developed her recipes and started a tiny, new business. Her oat milks are all organic, she says, and made with top-notch ingredient­s, including non-alcoholic vanilla, plump cashews and dabs of fragrant cinnamon.

Every drop of Oatkey Dokey oat milk is fashioned with personal attention — Nguyen’s own hands wring the oat and date sediment from the liquid several times to ensure it is silky (about $11.50 for a 500 mL bottle at Fiesta Farms). And she obsesses over quality and pits the dates herself.

Watching Nguyen work, there’s no doubt this oat milk is full of passion. It’s also full of flavour.

The liquid’s mild colour belies its complex taste — slightly oaty, slightly sweet and not overpoweri­ng in any way.

Just clear and clean and smooth and a perfect thirst quencher.

Throw in a banana and a scoop of peanut butter for an instant smoothie. Or, mash a banana, toss in some flour and you’ve got pancakes, says Nguyen.

Sounds tasty, but I’ll stick to the drink. Got an idea for Sourced? Email mhenry@thestar.ca

 ?? ANNE-MARIE JACKSON/TORONTO STAR ?? Oatkey Dokey is a hand-pressed, local and organic oat milk made by owner Jackie Nguyen.
ANNE-MARIE JACKSON/TORONTO STAR Oatkey Dokey is a hand-pressed, local and organic oat milk made by owner Jackie Nguyen.

Newspapers in English

Newspapers from Canada