How to Froth Milk

If you're addicted to your morning cappuccino but weary of spending a fortune at Starbucks, why not consider making your own? Crafting a good espresso is half the battle. You can buy a relatively inexpensive stove-top espresso maker that will make adequate espresso without blowing your budget. But, you still need to have that delicious, foamy milk on top to have a great cappuccino. Fortunately, there are inexpensive ways to make your own frothed milk at home to top off your morning cappuccino. You can learn how to froth milk in your kitchen so you can enjoy a tasty and affordable cappuccino before going to work in the morning.

If you want to take the easy, but more expensive route to frothing milk, you can buy a variety of automatic milk-frothers that range in price from $30.00 to $130.00. Yes, they will make your life easier but they don't come cheaply. An alternative is to buy a hand-frother which you can find as inexpensively as $10.00. This little gadget looks very similar to a French press with a clear chamber and a device to manually pump air into the milk. You simply add milk, heat it in the microwave for thirty seconds and then use the knob to pump air into the heated milk. Although the froth you get from a hand-held device is not the same quality you would get from a high quality, automatic frother, it serves its purpose. At $10.00, you can hardly lose.

Another alternative for frothing milk is to use a battery operated whisker. You may have one of these already in your kitchen. Don't use a manual one if you don't want tendinitis from all that vigorous motion. Here's how to froth milk using a battery operated whisker:

Prepare Your Milk.

Fill a glass about a quarter of the way with cold milk. Low fat milk doesn't hold its froth as well as full fat. Organic milk also doesn't froth as well as conventional milk.

Whisk the Cold Milk.

Insert your whisk into the glass until its almost touching the floor. Turn it on. As the milk whisks, slowly bring the point of the whisker towards the surface. Turn off the whisker.

Microwave Your Milk.

Put the cold, frothed milk into the microwave for 40 seconds. Remove from the microwave and pour into your coffee cup.

There you have it. Frothed milk for your cappuccino and it took almost no time to prepare. You can froth almost any type of milk including soy, rice, and almond milk, although the quality of the froth will vary. The best plan of action may be to buy an inexpensive battery operated whisker and have fun experimenting.