Lots of people these days avoid dairy and instead reach for alternatives to milk. We've covered making your own soy milk and almond milk in the past; if you prefer rice milk you can make your own by blending rice, water, and a sweetener.

Food blog Chow.com contributor Karen Solomon shows us in the video above how easy rice milk is to make: pour 1 cup of dry long-grain white rice in a blender along with 4 cups of water. Let that soak for 8-10 hours then pulverize in your blender at it's highest speed for a full two minutes while you add 4 tbsp sugar or other equivalent sweetener. Strain that through a fine mesh strainer and you have fresh tasty rice milk.

Around the world this drink can also be made from sesame seeds, barley, or tigernuts and is commonly known as horchata.

Karen also suggests throwing in a stick of cinnamon while the rice soaks to add flavor. I imagine vanilla beans and many other spices would also work This makes me want to make a chai spices rice milk to add to strong black darjeeling tea.

Karen doesn't state how long the rice milk will last, but I'm guessing that you should go for a week's worth per batch.

How to Make Rice Milk and Horchata | Chow.com