Dietary experiments
2 May 2010 15:00![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
enismirdalI decided to try and taste-test as many non-dairy milk varieties as possible. My reasons were:
1. Curiosity - to find out how they taste
2. Environmental-ish - everything I read seems to imply that cows are pretty energy-inefficient to produce and therefore beef and dairy come with a pretty high carbon footprint, so I figure if I can eat less dairy and still have yummy meals/drinks then that can only be a good thing
3. Health-ish - to see if less dairy suddenly gives me luxurious hair, glowing skin or magical vibrant energy
So, based on my research, the milks I can obtain in this area appear to be:
- soy milk
- rice milk
- oat milk
- almond milk
- hazelnut milk
- hemp milk
I'm starting with the cheap ones (~£1 per litre) and working through to the expensive ones (~£3 per litre). I'm approaching this experiment not from the angle, "Can I find something that tastes JUST LIKE MILK?" but rather from the point of view, "Does it taste nice and serve similar sorts of functions, in cooking, cereal and drinks?" Therefore, I won't be rating these milks entirely on whether they taste like milk, mostly on whether they have a nice flavour that works well in tea, coffee, cereal, hot chocolate, etc.
My inclination is to make a master post with reviews of all of them together, for my own future reference...
But I do like cheese. Far too much to part with it, I'm afraid.
1. Curiosity - to find out how they taste
2. Environmental-ish - everything I read seems to imply that cows are pretty energy-inefficient to produce and therefore beef and dairy come with a pretty high carbon footprint, so I figure if I can eat less dairy and still have yummy meals/drinks then that can only be a good thing
3. Health-ish - to see if less dairy suddenly gives me luxurious hair, glowing skin or magical vibrant energy
So, based on my research, the milks I can obtain in this area appear to be:
- soy milk
- rice milk
- oat milk
- almond milk
- hazelnut milk
- hemp milk
I'm starting with the cheap ones (~£1 per litre) and working through to the expensive ones (~£3 per litre). I'm approaching this experiment not from the angle, "Can I find something that tastes JUST LIKE MILK?" but rather from the point of view, "Does it taste nice and serve similar sorts of functions, in cooking, cereal and drinks?" Therefore, I won't be rating these milks entirely on whether they taste like milk, mostly on whether they have a nice flavour that works well in tea, coffee, cereal, hot chocolate, etc.
My inclination is to make a master post with reviews of all of them together, for my own future reference...
But I do like cheese. Far too much to part with it, I'm afraid.
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no subject
Date: 2 May 2010 14:26 (UTC)Call me old fashioned. Call me stubborn. I just don't see how any of those can provide those essential nutrients (calcium, vitamins A & D) that real milk provides. Perhaps I don't have all the information. LOL I'm perfectly willing to admit I haven't done much research into the matter.
Of course, I'm picky about my milk. I'll only drink whole milk or milk that's no less than 2% milk fat. Skim milk and milk that's 1% milk fat just taste awful to me.
no subject
Date: 2 May 2010 14:35 (UTC)I can't stand reduced fat milk either - I like the creamy flavour soooo much. But then I almost never drink cold, plain milk straight out of the glass - I'd much rather have it in tea, hot chocolate or on muesli!
no subject
Date: 2 May 2010 14:50 (UTC)When I was pregnant with the boys I drank a lot of milk. These days, though, about the only time I drink milk "straight out of the glass" is with breakfast. There's also the odd serving of milk and cookies with the boys. :D Some cookies just must be served with ice cold milk.
I'm interested to see your results, though.
no subject
Date: 2 May 2010 14:56 (UTC)LOL I have recently been educated about the correct manner of eating milk and cookies. It seems kind of fun but I haven't really tried it yet!
no subject
Date: 2 May 2010 15:05 (UTC)We had a Jersey milk cow for about a year when I was a kid. (I had to do all the milking.) Mom would skim the cream off the top of the milk and we'd make our own butter. (An incredibly boring way to spend an evening, btw.) Homemade butter tastes nothing like that stuff bought at the store.
no subject
Date: 2 May 2010 14:30 (UTC)I'd be interested in reading the results of this experiment, out of curiosity. Especially because it would educate me in the ways of e.g. cooking for DF friends. (Not that I've cooked for anyone for aaages, but it could happen!)
no subject
Date: 2 May 2010 14:36 (UTC)no subject
Date: 2 May 2010 14:30 (UTC)For cheese I'm guessing goats milk would have a much lower carbon foot print and lower lactose so might be worth experimenting. There now exists (very nice) blue goats cheese.
no subject
Date: 2 May 2010 14:37 (UTC)no subject
Date: 2 May 2010 15:18 (UTC)no subject
Date: 2 May 2010 15:42 (UTC)Also tea and coffee are both excellent without any milk at all :-)
no subject
Date: 2 May 2010 15:48 (UTC)Goat's milk cheese is omnomnom!
I'd really like to try sheep's milk but it seems to be hard to get hold of and insanely expensive... Do you know somewhere that sells it at non-obscene prices?
no subject
Date: 2 May 2010 16:03 (UTC)no subject
Date: 2 May 2010 21:56 (UTC)no subject
Date: 2 May 2010 21:48 (UTC)If so, ewe's milk and goats milk cheeses ate fine. I doubt you'd like the mik, though: both are very strongly flavoured. Rank, even.
As for environmental considerations, mutton makes sense. Yes, I know it needs acres of land to feed a sheep but it's land you can't use for anything else: high land, sloping land, unproductive soils that won't support a crop yield worth planting and harvesting. Upland sheep concentrate the energy from a vast area of land that you can't extract energy and materials from any other way.
no subject
Date: 2 May 2010 21:56 (UTC)And I totally agree about sheep products generally - if the land is useless for crop growing but has grass for grazing, I completely endorse using it for livestock rearing and therefore turning the grass into Yummy Meat. And sheep are much more environmentally-friendly than cows in all the literature I've read. In general it seems like cheese is weight-for-weight worse for the environment than actual pork or mutton or chicken meat.
But I'm not turning into some sort of rampant veggie or anything. Meat tastes good. But I figure if doing x is "bad" then doing less of x is "an improvement", so ways to reduce my intake of dead animal and mammary secretions rather than eliminate them entirely would seem to be my preference at present!
no subject
Date: 3 May 2010 15:24 (UTC)I agree with you about cheese. I'm obsessed. It's terrible.