A Consumer Report on the Virtue of Milk Substitutes

During the time of my uncertain diet, I decided to try a variety of non-dairy milk substitutes, and when the docs put me back on dairy, I followed through with the experiment. For those of you who might have to consider such an option, either temporarily or long term, here are my findings in order of preference from worst to best.

Soy Milk: It was hard for me to decide to put soy milk last. While the taste of soy milk is better than that of rice milk, the problem is texture. This was a more important issue for me. Soy milk has a slimy thickness that oozes down your throat. It also has a runny bleed off that compounds the problem. It is passable on cereals. Heated is probably the worst state for soy milk, as it distills itself more into the slimy and runny components. Probably only useful for putting on your cereal.

Rice Milk: Upon first taste, I thought rice milk would be the one. It has the look, texture, and smell of actual skim milk. But...there's a weird tinny aftertaste. This sticks with you like the saccharine of old diet sodas. This one deficit alone cost rice milk the victory. It's a nasty aftertaste.

Coconut Milk: Coconut milk tastes like coconut. The manufactures try to jazz up coconut milk with a little bit of thickener, but in the end, coconut milk finishes more like water or juice. The taste is pretty fresh, but the texture is a little weird. I could drink this if it were the only option available although it doesn't seem enough like milk to carry off the masquerade.

Almond Milk: For me, the winner of the contest is almond milk. Almond milk is thick, but it tastes more like a skim milk shake than food pretending to be liquid. Mixed with vanilla and sugar, it's sweet and satisfying. The only pitfall of almond milk is to avoid using it on cereals that are sweet. The combination is a bit cloying.

Those are my recommendations. Your mileage may vary. However, if you ever find yourself in a situation where you have to give up dairy, my advice is to go right to the almond milk.

Catherine

Next Up: Vegas workshop notes. Some anecdotal commentary on health care.

Mirrored from Writer Tamago.