How to Make Vegan Reishi Golden Milk
Golden Milk (haldi doodh) is an ancient, nourishing tonic from Ayurveda, a form of traditional medicine in India. The traditional ingredients of turmeric, ginger, black pepper, and nut milk in Golden Milk are “rajasic,” naturally stimulating foods. Turmeric is the main ingredient, giving this drink its golden name and hue.
Turmeric tea even made its way to Okinawa, a Blue Zone in southern Japan where people live longer than average. There, “shan-pien” is a green tea with jasmine flowers and turmeric. For many who grew up drinking the mixture, turmeric milk is a symbol of care, a steaming cup to heal during illness or recovery.
Today, we’re combining the incredible antioxidants and anti-inflammatory properties of turmeric with Reishi Powder for a soothing Ayurvedic nightcap.
Vegan Reishi Golden Milk
- Serving: 1 beverage
- Prep time: 2 minutes
- Total time: 5 minutes
Ingredients
- 2 cups almond milk (or any plant-based milk)
- 1 tsp Reishi Mushroom Powder
- 1 tsp ground turmeric powder
- 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon powder
- 1/4 tsp ground ginger powder
- 1 tbsp maple syrup (or to taste)
- Pinch of black pepper
- 2 droppers of Reishi Tincture (optional)
Note: Reishi Powder is bitter! It’s full of triterpenes that bring so much good to our body, but those same properties are the reason it packs a punch.
Instructions
- Mix and heat milk, turmeric, Reishi Powder, cinnamon, and ginger in a small saucepan over low heat.
- Using a matcha whisk, blend together the mixture, frothing and brushing the bottom to incorporate fully.
- Lower the heat and stir in the sweetener, black pepper, and Reishi Tincture. Sip before bed.
Recipe Substitutions
- Standard whisks are just fine, but matcha whisks are something special. The many prongs suspend and separate the turmeric quickly.
- I also like to froth mine at the very end because I just love how creamy it gets.
- I love the warmth before bed, but it’s also delicious iced.
- You can add 2 teaspoons of coconut oil or ghee to help with the fat absorption turmeric requires.
- Swap in honey or any other sweetener in place of maple syrup.
- Substitute fresh ginger for the ginger.
- Steep a cinnamon stick in place of cinnamon powder.
- Add 2 tablespoons of cacao for nighttime, which also works as a gentle sleep aid. Surprise! Who knew it was all that sugar in chocolate that kept us awake…
- For dairy-free options, I like almond milk and coconut milk the best. The earthy sweet flavor of oat milk also pairs well, but I find it too heavy to digest.
- Spice it up! Cardamom and chai spices can help brighten up this caffeine-free drink.
- If you’re traveling, try Reishi Capsules for an on-the-go soothing tea with warm water.
The Health Benefits of Vegan Golden Milk
Inflammation
Inflammation is our body’s natural response to, well, a lot. Viruses, bacteria, tissue damage, you name it. The red swelling around that paper cut? Short-term inflammation. However, carrying chronic inflammation is where a whole host of problems begin.
Chronic inflammation can damage healthy cells and organs, where it may cause severe tissue damage if left untreated. It’s also been linked as a key factor in several serious diseases, such as Alzheimer’s disease and heart disease. Reishi mushrooms, turmeric, and ginger are proven anti-inflammatory superfoods that help control chronic inflammation.
Sleep Aids
The black pepper and cinnamon help boost the flow of natural melatonin in our bodies, which is made by our pituitary glands. If you’re familiar with melatonin because you take an over-the-counter version to sleep, now is the time to switch to a natural method to get your body back on track.
Reishi Mushrooms
The health benefits of Reishi mushrooms foster whole-body wellness. This is, after all, known as the queen of mushrooms, the mushroom of longevity, or the mushroom of immortality. Western medicine is only now scraping the surface of how medicinal mushrooms and other natural adaptogens influence our health for the better in both the short term and long term.
What we do have, however, is centuries worth of positive effects noted in traditional and homeopathic medicine across every continent and culture. We have personal anecdotes of feeling better when we live in tune with the herbs and fungi provided for us to heal our bodies.
The bioavailability of each ingredient, especially our Reishi Powder made with 100% fruiting bodies for the highest beta-glucans content possible, does works for the immune system. In fact, I know at least three people who bring their own spices on trips so they can make their Golden Milk to avoid illness.
Golden Milk Isn't a Trend
Nandita Godbole wrote about the deep connection Golden Milk in an article that is both personal essay and informative.
“For most children of Indian heritage, turmeric milk is likely tied to reminders of being ill, the loss of playtime, and missing out on the fun of being a kid... Although it’s always nice to be cared for, for me turmeric milk punctuates these cozy memories with reminders of a weak and aching body and the innocent longing to run outside and play with friends… [Later on] It became an anchor in many ways: a reminder of the unconditional care of the people who nursed us back to health and the histories that stretch back into our ancestry.”
While it may be a trendy or vegan staple in Western diets now, it’s important to remember the roots of such a tradition so that we preserve the legacy. It’s so much more than a liquid slung in a cup and hoisted at you from a drive-thru window.
I first tried Golden Milk thanks to a friend who worked the coffee counter in college. After months of having an iced Americano, I wandered in before a work shift looking, frankly, horrible. It was so bad that she physically winced as I approached the counter.
She handed me a cup of Golden Milk that she promised would help me sleep and wake up feeling even better, a remedy from her youth that she swore by since going vegan. This recipe is a nod to her care in sharing it with me, a newcomer to Indian culture.
Nowadays, I rarely buy Turmeric Golden Milk out. I like to control my own flavor ratios and adjust or add mushroom powder based on how I’m feeling. Anxiety creeping in? I’ll add two more teaspoons of Reishi Mushroom Powder. Bad period cramps? I add two teaspoons of Lion’s Mane Mushroom Powder to the mixture and enjoy it during the day.
The Golden Milk recipe may change based on my mood or needs, but there is one thing that’s for certain. My worries seem to fade a little as the golden mixture comes together on the stove.