What About All That Whey? (Recipe: Cardamom Whey Refresher)

I posted a recipe yesterday for homemade yogurt. The thing about making homemade Greek yogurt is, you wind up with a lot of leftover whey. Yes, like Little Miss Muffet. Whey is the liquid by-product produced by strained yogurt. It’s almost translucent, slightly sour, and really good for you. Whey is incredibly high in protein, thus the reason it’s dried and powdered into the ever popular protein powder supplement found throughout the fitness world. Liquid whey is also filled with vitamins and minerals, such as vitamins C, B, and E… As well as calcium, iron, magnesium, copper, potassium, and phosphorous.

All that said, I’ll be honest. The following recipe isn’t for everyone. Honestly, after my first sip, I wasn’t sure I was sold on the hype. Whey isn’t sweet. If you think of the sourness of plain yogurt, the flavor of whey is not far off. In its defense, this drink is very refreshing, especially on the hot summery days we’ve been having. I got the idea for this beverage from Alana Chernila’s blog, Eating From the Ground Up – the same place I started with the homemade yogurt.

The original recipe wasn’t as creamy as I wanted this drink to be, so I did add additional milk to the recipe. You can leave it out if you prefer, for a lighter drink.

Cardamom Whey Refresher

Yields one drink, or two small drinks.

Ingredients:

1 cup cold whey
½ cup whole milk
2 tsp. pure maple or agave syrup
¼ tsp. freshly ground cardamom
pinch of ground Ceylon cinnamon
½ a small lime

Directions:

Combine the whey, milk, maple/agave syrup, cardamom and cinnamon. Stir until completely combined. Quickly add in the lime juice, stir, then serve over ice immediately (the quicker this drink is consumed, the lesser chance the lime will cause the milk to curdle).