With the holidays approaching, and many gatherings of people taking place, I thought it might be helpful to post a few things that I’ve learned about alternative milks. There are few things more frightening for a host than the dreaded words “I’m allergic to…” Over the years I’ve done plenty of experimenting with alternative milks, and while I have not tried them all, there are areas where each milk excels in it’s own way. Some are better for baking, some are better for drinking, and some are better for pouring over cereal in the morning.
Before I get to the various types of milk though, let me address packaging. Far and away, the best alternative milks are the ones found in the dairy case, in traditional quart and half-gallon cartons. They have the freshest flavor and some of the various distinctive flavors are lessened when they are in the dairy case. The shelf-stable aseptic packaged milks are okay, and if that’s all that’s available to you, they are acceptable. But I find that the nuttiness of the nut milks is enhanced by the processing necessary to make these milks shelf-stable. If you’re going to use these milks for drinking and pouring over cereal, make sure that you refrigerate them upon your arrival at home. They taste far better ice cold than warm right out of the package.
So let’s begin with soymilk. One of my least favorite alternative milks. There is a distinct nuttiness and flavor to soymilk that you just can’t get away from. Even in baked goods, I can still taste that distinct soy flavor. I will say, however, that as far as alternative coffee creamers go, soy creamer is one of the ones that Andy thought tasted the best. He actually used Silk creamer exclusively in his coffee for a while. During our experiments with soymilk, we did find that the Silk chocolate milk was delicious. It still had that slight nutty flavor to it, but the chocolate flavor was rich and dark, and very satisfying. I don’t really buy any soymilk at this time. As I mentioned, it’s one of my least favorite alternative milks, and I also have my concerns with too much soy in our diet.
Oatmilk. Oh, this one causes me to shudder, so my experience with it will be brief. I bought this to try because I am a huge fan of oats. I love oatmeal in all forms, and also really like the flavor that comes from adding oat flour to a loaf of homemade bread. But in milk form? Blech. The mouth-feel was unpleasant for one- it was very thick and kind of stuck to the tongue a bit. When I arrived home with this one, I poured myself a glass to test, and one mouthful probably turned me off for forever. It literally made me gag. The flavor and texture combined were just really unpleasant. I think it might have it’s uses for bread baking, but I was so turned off by that one taste that I literally dumped the whole carton down the drain. I Just. Couldn’t. Do. It.
Rice milk is one that I consistently reach for as an alternative, because it’s fairly benign and plain in flavor. I’ve found that the refrigerated Rice Dreams Plain rice milk makes a great cereal milk, and I can even drink a small glass of it with a brownie or a cookie. The sweetened rice milks are just too sweet in my opinion. If you want a flavored rice milk to drink, by all means, search for Horchata flavored rice milk. Oh my, that is some creamy goodness. It’s got a light cinnamon flavor and is rich and creamy and so delicious. I like to use rice milk for cooking when I need to be cooking on the stove top. It fills in nicely for dairy milk when making a bechamel. I’ve also used rice milk successfully to make alternatives to cream soups. I made a delicious cream of mushroom soup once using rice milk that Andy and I both wanted to eat straight up instead of using for the dish I’d made it for. If, for some reason, I’m lacking dairy milk in the house, rice milk is the one that I can sneak past the kids for their morning cereal if needs be. Where rice milk doesn’t quite hold up though is in the area of baking. It’s just not rich enough, in my opinion, to round out the flavors in baked goods. In a pinch I would use it, but it’s not preferred for baking in my kitchen.
Almond milk is another good one. I really like Almond Breeze unsweetened almond milk for cereal and for drizzling over my oatmeal in the morning. I’m not the biggest fan of drinking it, because like soymilk, it has a nuttiness that still comes through. When I did my recent vegan diet, I bought a carton of generic almond milk from one of our grocery stores (Roundy’s brand available at Copps and Pick-N-Save) and was surprised how delicious it was. It was great poured over a bowl of cereal- and this one was even packaged in the shelf-stable packaging, so definitely hunt around for your favorite version of almond milk. Almond milk is the one I reach for consistently for baking. It has a richness to it that rice milk doesn’t have, yet it doesn’t add the off flavor that soymilk does. It substitutes perfectly in baked goods for dairy milk. Of course, if there are tree nut allergies, almond milk would need to be avoided, and in that case, I would reach for rice milk.
Which brings us to my favorite alternative milk- Coconut milk. Specifically, the refrigerated So Delicious unsweetened coconut milk. This is the closest to dairy milk there is, though it’s got a slightly thicker, richer mouth-feel than whole dairy milk does. But boy, is it delicious. I can drink this out of a glass, and it’s amazing over a bowl of Kashi cereal in the morning. The coconut milk holds up very well in baking too, but I’ll admit I haven’t tried this specific coconut milk in stove-top cooking. In those instances, I usually reach for the canned coconut milk- found in my grocery store in the Asian cooking aisle. Coconut milk is frequently used in Thai curries, and that’s where I’ve used it. I have not tried using the refrigerated coconut milk in this instance because the canned milk tastes like coconut, and adds flavor to the curries. Where the refrigerated coconut milk doesn’t taste much like coconuts, and I think I’d miss that flavor. We also tried coconut milk coffee creamer, but Andy thought it added too much of an actual coconut flavor to his coffee. As far as alternative creamers go, he says that the soy creamer is still the best of the bunch.
As you can see, there are plenty of alternatives available when you need to use a non-dairy milk. With all these ones that I’ve tried, there are still more out there, and dozens of different flavors as well. I frequently can be found to have one or more of these on hand either in the fridge or in the pantry, and am no longer surprised by guests who say they cannot have dairy. It’s much easier to accommodate those guests these days than it was even ten years ago. Hopefully this little list here can help someone out who just wants to know more about what actually is available, and what is actually good to use.