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2003.April.17
----------------------------- I talk a lot about alternative milks (rice and soy) on this site, but usually in passing, a reference to a purchase. Dawn wrote in from Tennessee asking about soy milk: what to expect, how to judge diffferent brands, how to cook with it, etc. I thought the info might be useful to others as well, so I'm sharing it here. (Side note: This post is strictly about choosing soy and rice milk brands. I'm not going to get into why, because that would triple the length of the content, and has been covered in depth in many other posts on this site. But I will say that when drinking non-dairy milk, you should make sure you're still getting enough calcium.) First of all, you should not expect soy or rice milk (or almond milk) to taste like moo juice. Most cow milk widely available is so loaded with chemicals (ugh, bovine growth hormone) and antibiotics that it doesn't even taste like milk straight from the cow. When drinking soy milk, you're going to taste a hint of soy. Same with rice milk; that's normal. Second, it's not going to be white. A lot of alternative milks are organic, and almost all are marketed to health-conscious people, and tend not to be bleached or artificially coloured. So it'll be a little brown, no big deal. Oh, and be sure to shake up the box before you pour it; sometimes the solids will separate out a little, shaking provides for a more even, consistent texture. Also, because they aren't dairy, most alternative milks don't need to be refrigerated until they are opened, and are sold in boxes in normal grocery aisles. Once opened, soy milk keeps in the fridge for ten days. The exception to the unopened refrigeration rule is Silk, a soy milk that is sold in refrigerated cases. I haven't had it in years, but I remember the texture being very smooth. I asked Matt about it, because he drinks Silk regularly. He said he enjoys it because it has less of a flavour; I've also been told it's the one that most closely resembles cow milk. There are several different factors by which I judge rice and soy milk. The first one is texture: if it's grainy, forget it. Second is flavour. I don't mind tasting the underlying soy (or almond or rice), but I usually buy the Vanilla type of whatever brand I'm drinking. Most milks are available in a minimum of three flavours: original (plain), vanilla, and chocolate. I like sweet things, and primarily use milk on cereal, so I go for vanilla. If you want to explore beyond plain, chocolate, and vanilla, Yü offers about a dozen flavours, including peach, green tea, coffee, and mixed berry. Yü has a great texture, not grainy, and is very thick. Which brings us to consistency. In general, soy milk is going to be thicker than rice milk, and is usually more nutritious. However, more people are allergic to soy (a lot of whom don't realize it) than rice. Rice milk tends to be naturally more sweet than soy. To be honest, there is really only one brand of rice milk I would recommend to anyone: Rice Dream. So good! Even the plain flavour is delicious. With the exception of Yü, every other brand of rice milk I have ever tried has been nasty, to the point where I couldn't bring myself to finish off the box. On to soy. Vanilla Vitasoy has always been my personal fave: strong vanilla flavour, unbeatable creaminess. Very drinkable on its own. Recently, I tried Pearl, which is made by Kikkoman (yep, the soy sauce company), and was pleasantly surprised. A little more thin than Vitasoy, but they sure have the texture down, not one bit of grit. Also, it's organic. What else...I mentioned Silk and Yü already. My fallback soy milk, one of the most widely-distributed, is Edensoy. It's very brown in colour, a little grainy, and the soy taste comes through rather strongly, even on the vanilla flavour. Not my first or second choice, but I'd buy it in a pinch. As opposed to Westbrae's Westsoy, the cheapest of the alternative milks and also the most gross. Thin and totally gritty, I'd rather go without than drink this stuff. Ugh. I can't say much about almond and nut milks, because I only tried one once, about six years ago, and can't remember much about it (which says something in itself). If anyone has an opinion on almond milk, or any other soy or rice milk that I haven't mentioned, please feel free to share. For cooking, you can generally substitute soy milk for cow milk at a 1:1 ratio. Note that I said soy milk: rice milk is too thin for a lot of recipes. Use the plain kind, not the vanilla, unless you're baking with it, in which case I like to use vanilla because hey, the sweeter the better. Vitasoy, Edensoy and Pearl all work well for cooking. As for price, rice and soy milk in the midwest tends to hover around two bucks for a quart-sized box. If I see Rice Dream or Vitasoy on sale for $1.70 or $1.80, I'll stock up. It's been five years since I've been to California, but I remember the average price of soy milk there being a good fifty cents cheaper per box than it is here, though that probably has to do with supply and demand. If I understand it correctly, soy milk is a natural byproduct of making tofu, and a cheap one, so it should be inexpensively available to the masses. However, I recognize that the better-tasting alternative milks probably go through a fair amount of processing, which raises the price. So I pay my two bucks a box and stopped complaining about it a while ago. It's still better than drinking cow milk. * posted by j3s 2003.April.17Good entry! I've done the same experimentation with soy milks and I rarely get rice milk. Like you, Vanilla is the best with cereal and is pretty good for cooking too. You didn't mention Sun Soy milk, which is usally found right next to Silk. While I like Silk, if it's cheaper or on sale or available, I'll go with Sun Soy creamy original everytime. It's halfway between vanilla and plain and it has a thicker consistency than Silk but is not as thick as some other brands which makes it about perfect. * posted by Naz april 17, 2003 01:38 pmNice blog entry. I also like soy milk and drink alot of it. I like making chai with it sometimes. I also like putting extra real vanilla extract into it (mmm!). I think I read someplace that the fat free soymilk can't be organic - it undergoes a process to defat it that somehow changes it? I can't quite remember the details any more though; anyone know? I also drink regular cow milk sometimes too. I pretty much only drink Oberweis milk when it comes to regular milk (must be the glass making it taste better). It doesn't have rBGH "in" it. But I also read that rBGH is not measureable in the end product milk and it's also supposed to be tasteless. None-the-less, an unwanted chemical. * posted by sEn^ april 17, 2003 08:35 pmI'll come down on the side of Silk, and add that I find it keeps way more than 10 days. I'll keep Silk for a month and it still tastes just fine. I don't know if anything happens to the nutritional content, but I've never known it to go bad. Prefer plain, though I'll buy a vanilla or chocolate about once a month just for variety. Rice Dream was my rice milk of choice, but I gave up rice products when I became a diabetic. Rice is digested so quickly that it spikes blood glucose rather violently. I'd guess that this is even more true of rice milk, though I haven't tested that yet. I enjoy nut milks occasionally. Not something I'd get into as an alternative to moo, which I still do use occasionally, always choosing organic milk over the standard stuff. Thanks for a really good entry about these alternaives. * posted by dargie april 18, 2003 12:40 amGreat entry, j3s. I'll agree on Silk. It's a fine beverage, and I think their chocolate drink (which I enjoy on occasion) is the best soy chocolate drink - though I'm always willing to try new things. Unfortunately, West Soy was on sale some months ago at a big store and I bought two. One went into rotation immediately and I hated it. The other is sitting in the cupboard, in no rush to be used. It's awful. AWFUL. (Obligatory TJ's reference: I'm currently using a half-gallon of their house brand soymilk, and it is fine. Nothing spectacular, but quite drinkable and fairly smooth.) * posted by Paul april 18, 2003 07:24 amif this isn't timely - white wave, makers of the Silk brand, have just had a MASSIVE recall. read about it here: http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/news/breaking_news/5656215.htm Silk is ok, though, seems to be there "White Wave" brand, which I don't think is found in the midwest, but I could be wrong. * posted by miss ellen april 18, 2003 10:59 amum, yeah, grammar isn't my strong suit. "there" is not at all correct above! my bad ;) * posted by miss ellen april 18, 2003 11:04 amWow, thanks for the positive feedback, guys! Sounds like Silk seems to be the popular choice. Paul, I'm sorry you got stuck with WestSoy nastiness. Thanks for the suggestions :) * posted by j3s april 18, 2003 04:38 pmI really enjoy your writings about food. I used to live in Chicago, very near Treasure Island and would frequent it quite often. Yum! I also worked at Convito Italiano on Chestnut while in school and simply loved lots of their food and it is probably a good thing it closed that location or I would be about 300lbs. Man. Have you been there? Oops. Sorry about all the typos. This chick needs to take out her dried up contacts and get her glasses on so she can see what she is writing! :) * posted by Rachel april 18, 2003 08:44 pmOk, first of all, no need to worry about typos, guys :) I may be a bit of a grammar freak, but these are just comments, dialogue, and we are all human. All that matters is that you have something to say, I appreciate that. Rachel - I've never heard of Convito Italiano but it sounds great! Funny that you mention Europe: it was visiting there for the first time that made me realize how wonderful it is to eat simply, using fresh ingredients. * posted by j3s april 22, 2003 02:03 pm Convito closed down due to a kitchen fire ??? We had a restaurant upstairs called Trattoria Convito or something like that. We would get our tortas, pasta salads, sauces, breads, desserts, etc. from them to sell. Patrons could buy what they ate when they exited after eating upstairs. Well, there was a fire and we shut down the shop downstairs not too long after. Some questions there (insurance) because the owner also has a shop in Wilmette. I highly recommend the pepper cheese bread. We were known for that. We would have little old ladies pounding on our door before we opened because they just couldn't wait to get some and didn't want us to be sold out. Christmas time was real fun with fights breaking out all over the place because someone got the last loaf of pepper cheese bread. Boy. We got to take home the day old calzones, pizza margaheritas, mushroom pizzas, veggie pizza, ect. Even the bread got to come home with the employees. We had a pretty good wine selection as well. You should go and check out the Wilmette location. I am curious as to if is still running strong. It should be. Just stumbled on this sight while looking for stuff unrelated to a class assignment. Of soy milks, I find VITA SOY to be the tops!! All the flavors are great, and it is really smooth and rich. I live in the S.F. Bay area, just down the street from where Vita Soy is made or imported and recently have had a hard time finding my favorit product in the stores, so I had to try others....none compare to how good Vita Soy is. * posted by Paula P april 25, 2003 05:38 pmTaste is a funny thing, I guess. I personally can't drink any of the sweetened soy/rice milks.. they have as much sugar in them as soda nearly. I pretty much stick to fortified Westsoy milk, which I like for the flavor and the creaminess. It isn't gritty at all, but you have to remember to shake your soy milk before using it to get the solids well-dispersed, so that might be the problem. * posted by Sarah may 7, 2003 02:48 pmI have been buying organic milk for my family since I was diagnosed with breast cancer in December. I originally bought Oberweis which I know does not contain rBGH, but I am unable to clarify if there are antibiotics or pesticides involved. I am also wondering if imported cheeses (i.e., romano and mozzarella) are safer than domestic cheeses. * posted by Ann may 26, 2003 07:43 amPost a comment
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