non-dairy milk
Okay, let’s talk about non-dairy milk. I never liked milk. I wonder what it would be like to really want to drink milk. Actually, I don’t. I do like coffee though (I’ll revisit this subject later) and I generally prefer my coffee with some sort of milk substitute. For the longest time I relied on soy milk because it was the most commonly available option. The truth is, I really like soy milk. I still wouldn’t really want to drink a glass straight, but the thought doesn’t gross me out either. In the past year I’ve added a lot of almond milk and on occasion rice milk into the mix. I’m not as big a fan of the rice milk as it is not quite thick enough and a little too sweet. Almond milk, on the other hand, is great and makes some intense latte foam.
On a recent visit to Vinh Loi Tofu, I thought I’d get some of their freshly made soy milk, just to try. I figured, before I mixed it in with my coffee or cooked something with it, I should probably taste it, just in case. Do you know what fresh soy milk tastes like? It tastes like soybeans. Like raw tofu, except sweeter. This might sound kind of gross, but it’s not. It’s actually pretty refreshing. It was definitely a change from the standard vanilla soy milk that I usually get. I think it would be extra good for a shake or something, to give it a little bit extra flavor. More than that, I love that it is fresh and only has three ingredients…water, soybeans and sugar. There was also a non-sugar version and a crazy green one that I’m not really sure what it was (if anyone could enlighten me I would be grateful). It made me want to try and make some of my own soy milk, or tofu even!
What kind of non-dairy milk do you like?
The green one is made with Pandan
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pandanus_amaryllifolius
It’s a pretty intense flavor/smell, some love it some hate it… definitely an acquired taste, but not at all bad when sweetened up with sugar and made into a dessert.
I almost bought a little bottle, perhaps next time I’ll try the dessert. I was so stuffed though after eating I couldn’t do it on this trip.
The green stuff is soy milk with pandan, which is a leaf. I tried Vinh Loi’s pandan pudding once and didn’t care for it, but I don’t recall the flavor enough to describe it.
I’m like you…I never liked milk straight up, so I never drink vegan milk straight up (only chocolate vegan milk). Chocolate almond milk is really good, but so is chocolate soy and chocolate hemp. My go-to vegan milk is fat-free soy that I buy at Trader Joe’s. It’s good for cereal and smoothies.
i usually buy almond milk. but we made fresh soy milk in a cooking class once and it was just as delicious as you described 🙂 we also made our own tofu and that was amazing, very cool process too. anyway, i never liked cow breast milk either– i didn’t like it and thought it was gross. i probably wouldn’t pound a glass of almond or soy milk straight…but…if it were ice cold with cookies…i think i’d get down with that 🙂
I really like almond milk. A few shops near me now stock full sized cartons of the Blue Diamond for the same price as soy. I also tried hemp milk not too long ago and was pleasantly surprised! Hemp milk is a bit on the pricey side, though, so it’s special occasion only!
I’ve never tried hemp milk. I imagine I’d like it since I really like the hemp milk ice cream. The price always deters me though.
i am so boring. the only thing i ever buy is vanilla soy milk. i have never even TRIED rice milk or almond milk.
the stuff you are describing from vinh loi sounds awesome. i will definitely get some next time i’m there.
side note: before i went vegan, i always used powdered creamer in my coffee. i miss that. even the non-dairy creamers aren’t vegan, and for some reason soy milk in coffee just doesn’t do it for me.
have you tried the soy creamers? they’re not powdered but they’re thicker/sweeter than regular soy milk.
I am drinking unsweetened oatmilk these days and I am liking that. It is a little thicker than rice milk.
This is another one that I still haven’t tried. Any recommendations on a good one?
For a long time, I used primarily the Trader Joe’s unsweetened soymilk in the aseptic box, because I’m lazy. I’ll come clean: I actually have a soymilk maker; it’s the SoyToy (http://www.soytoy.com) and it makes two quarts of soy (or rice milk, oat milk, nut milk, or even pea or bean soup) in about 25 minutes. I stopped making this regularly because it doesn’t grind as finely as I’d like and if I use the milk as a creamer in my coffee I’m left with all kinds of sediment on the bottom.
You can make killer hot chocolate with the SoyToy, and judging by the weather today, it looks like I’m going to be making a batch of that very soon.
My current favorite milk is the So Delicious coconut beverage, unsweetened. I know they’ve just introduced creamers, but oddly I’m not interested in paying so much for a pint when the beverage does my coffee just fine.
Fresh soy milk is a whole different sensation of taste from typical store bought kinds. I first had it at an Asian market, and wow I was really surprised the difference. These days mostly I drink hemp milk from the co-op market in Santa Monica. After reading the Thrive Diet book, being interesting in veganism and athletic performance, I got turned on to hemp as a rich veggie protein source with a more complete amino acid profile. I regularly use hemp milk in my morning smoothies and have started using hemp butter on sandwiches.
On my first visit to Vinh Loi Tofu (been reading all these great reviews on it), he had fresh made hot soy milk. It’s Asian-style, the type that I grew up drinking since I was a kid, so it was perfect for me. Beside that, I love almond milk for hot cocoa and cereals.. nice also as a non-soy source.