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If you’re giving Veganuary a try this year, you may be considering a plant milk alternative with your morning cereal.

Whether it’s almond or oat, soya or even pea-based, these dairy-free alternatives have now become common place on supermarket shelves in recent years – a 2021 report by market researchers Mintel showed a record one in three Brits were making plant-based milks a regular part of their diet.

But, plant milks are not just a recent phenomenon and, in some cases, their origins stretch back hundreds of years.

Almond milk

In 2020, British consumers spent more than £105 million on almond milk – a drink that actually dates back more than 1000 years.

The earliest references to almond milk are thought to appear in medieval medical texts between the 8th and 12th Centuries, with its use recommended for people with coughs or shortness of breath.

It was more commonly referred to in the 13th and 14th Centuries in recipes, particularly in Baghdad and Egypt where almonds were particularly popular. The trend made its way to Europe and was very popular among Christian communities, where it was used as a replacement for cow’s milk during periods of Lent, when people abstained from dairy products.

While a popular dairy-free alternative, almond milk does have quite a substantial environmental impact. While it is considered more sustainable to produce than dairy products, a single 200ml glass of almond milk would need around 74 litres (130 pints) of water during its manufacturing.

Soya milk

Much like almond milk, the soya version also dates back hundreds of years.

Made by soaking and grinding soy beans, boiling the mixture and filtering it, the earliest mention of soy milk was found on a Chinese stone slab dating back to a period between the 1st and 3rd Centuries.

People believed that by gently heating it, it was easier to digest than cow’s milk and it became a popular street food item in China in the 18th Century. It first became a mass-produced product in 1910, as the world’s first soya milk factory was established in Paris.

Coconut milk

Crack open a coconut and you may be able to quench your thirst by drinking its water.

But, with a little bit more hard work, you can also produce some coconut milk.

By grating the fruit’s flesh and mixing it with hot water, you can make the milk – something that has possibly been happening for around 5,000 years.

It’s thought that the practice originated among Austronesian people – those from places such as Madagascar, Maritime Southeast Asia and Oceanic island regions. There is evidence of coconut graters being taken on Austronesian expansion journeys (one of the most significant mass-migrations of the era) around BC3000 to BC1500.

The drink itself began to be more widely used around 2,000 years ago, in particular in India and Southeast Asia – where it was not only drunk but used as an essential ingredient in cooking.

Oat milk

While almond milk is centuries old, oat milk is considerably newer.

It was developed in the early 1990s by Swedish food scientist Rickard Öste. He was researching lactose intolerance and wondered whether an entirely new milk product would be viable.

Öste developed an oat-based alternative, taking advantage of a large supply of oat crops in Sweden. He used enzymes to convert the oats into a rich, milk-like drink, adding plant-based oils to provide varying levels of fat, to mimic cow’s milk. He went on to form Oatly, one of the world’s leading plant milk manufacturers.

While the product is less than 30 years old, it has now overtaken almond milk in the UK to become the most popular non-dairy milk.

Pea milk

If you think a green milk might be a little hard to stomach, then never fear – pea milk doesn’t look like your average portion of mushy peas.

It’s actually made from yellow split peas, which mostly grow in Southern Europe, North Africa and Asia. Unlike a lot of nut milks, the peas aren’t usually soaked in water to produce the liquid. Instead, they are milled into flour and then processed to separate the protein from the fibre and starch.

The protein undergoes a purification process and is blended with water and other ingredients. The end result is a drink that is high in protein and calcium, and whose production uses a reduced amount of water.

Pea milk is relatively new on the supermarket shelves, only arriving in the UK in 2019, after being sold in the United States since 2015. It’s not the newest kid on the block though – a new potato milk is set to hit the shops later in 2022.

This article was published in January 2022.