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More Almond Milk Reviews
Oct. 22nd, 2009 09:31 pmA year and a half ago, I posted some reviews of commercial almond milks with an eye to their potential usefulness in medieval cooking. One of the complaints I had at the time was that all the ones I could find included added sweeteners. It wouldn't be that critical if you were using them for a sweetened dish, but it was non-idea for savory dishes that didn't want that level of sugar.
Passing through the relevant aisle at the Berkeley Bowl West market today, I noticed that several brands were now featuring unsweetened variants of their almond milks, so I thought it might be time for some further comparisons. (Amusingly, one of them also promotes itself as "low fat" and yet has essentially identical fat content to the other two brands.) I didn't do a direct comparison of these with their corresponding sweetened versions, but I did make up a basic home-made version (one part ground blanched almonds to two parts hot water, blend several times then strain).
Pacific Natural Foods "Organic Almond Non-Dairy Beverage"
Ingredients: Filtered water, organic almonds, organic rice starch, sea salt, organic vanilla, natural flavor, carrageenan, misc. vitamins. 35 calories/cup.
Color: ecru -- the only one of the set that was noticably off-white. Aroma: Alas, the vanilla really stands out. Nothing else is particularly notable. Texture: only slightly thicker than water, probably about the same as milk. A little chalky. Taste: meh. No real almond flavor. Not even much vanilla flavor.
Almond Dream "Unsweetened Almond Drink" (Original flavor)
Ingredients: Distilled water, almonds, tricalcium phosphate, natural almond flavor with other natural flavors, sea salt, gellan gum, misc. vitamins. 30 calories/cup.
Color: white. There was noticeable separation/sedimentation in the glass by the time I started the taste test, so I had to stir it up. Aroma: strong almond scent. Texture: Similar to the previous but without the chalkiness. Taste: Less almondy than the aroma. Fairly insipid.
Almond Breeze unsweetened "Original" non-dairy beverage
(I guess they don't feel the need to specify "almond beverage" given the brand name.)
Ingredients: Purified water, almonds, tapioca starch, calcium carbonate, sea salt, potassium citrate, carrageenan, soy lecithin, natural flavor, misc. vitamins. 40 calories/cup.
Color: white with no noticeable sedimentation. Aroma: very slight almond scent. Texture: somewhat thicker/more viscous than the preceding two, but smooth. No chalkiness. Taste: a slightly stronger flavor than the others. Not strongly almondy, but definitely not watery.
Home-made
Ingredients: Tap water, almonds. Caloric value undetermined.
Color: white with a little bit of sedimentation. Aroma: fresh "raw" almond scent. Very nutty. Texture: similar viscosity to the Almond Breeze. No chalkiness although there's some grittiness when you get to the bottom. Taste: The first thing I noticed was a bit of a "bite", almost an acidity. Definitely nutty and the same "green/raw" taste that shows up in the aroma.
Comparison with sweetened versions
Going back to my previous review, I had sweetened versions of the Almond Breeze and Pacific Natural Foods brands. The Almond Breeze I noted as tasting "toasted" and the Pacific Natural Foods as "more delicate and flowery". (Interestingly, the sweetened version of PNF doesn't include vanilla flavoring.) In my previous comparison I found the home-made version to be thicker in texture than the commercial milks and -- as I found again this time -- with a more almondy and "raw" flavor. (I don't mean "raw" in any negative sense, simply that it made me think of raw fresh almonds.)
So I once again come back to my conclusion that, given how easy the home-made version is to produce, there's very little reason to prefer the commercial variants. (I could see taking the commercial route if you needed very large quantities and time were short, or as something to keep on hand in a camp kitchen, since the containers need no refrigeration.) The unsweetened versions are definitely preferable to the sweetened, if only for ingredient control, but avoid the Pacific Natural Foods unsweetened because of the vanilla thing. Overall, the Almond Breeze unsweetened would be my pick for medieval cooking due to the slightly stronger nut flavor and lack of unwanted non-almond flavorings.
Passing through the relevant aisle at the Berkeley Bowl West market today, I noticed that several brands were now featuring unsweetened variants of their almond milks, so I thought it might be time for some further comparisons. (Amusingly, one of them also promotes itself as "low fat" and yet has essentially identical fat content to the other two brands.) I didn't do a direct comparison of these with their corresponding sweetened versions, but I did make up a basic home-made version (one part ground blanched almonds to two parts hot water, blend several times then strain).
Pacific Natural Foods "Organic Almond Non-Dairy Beverage"
Ingredients: Filtered water, organic almonds, organic rice starch, sea salt, organic vanilla, natural flavor, carrageenan, misc. vitamins. 35 calories/cup.
Color: ecru -- the only one of the set that was noticably off-white. Aroma: Alas, the vanilla really stands out. Nothing else is particularly notable. Texture: only slightly thicker than water, probably about the same as milk. A little chalky. Taste: meh. No real almond flavor. Not even much vanilla flavor.
Almond Dream "Unsweetened Almond Drink" (Original flavor)
Ingredients: Distilled water, almonds, tricalcium phosphate, natural almond flavor with other natural flavors, sea salt, gellan gum, misc. vitamins. 30 calories/cup.
Color: white. There was noticeable separation/sedimentation in the glass by the time I started the taste test, so I had to stir it up. Aroma: strong almond scent. Texture: Similar to the previous but without the chalkiness. Taste: Less almondy than the aroma. Fairly insipid.
Almond Breeze unsweetened "Original" non-dairy beverage
(I guess they don't feel the need to specify "almond beverage" given the brand name.)
Ingredients: Purified water, almonds, tapioca starch, calcium carbonate, sea salt, potassium citrate, carrageenan, soy lecithin, natural flavor, misc. vitamins. 40 calories/cup.
Color: white with no noticeable sedimentation. Aroma: very slight almond scent. Texture: somewhat thicker/more viscous than the preceding two, but smooth. No chalkiness. Taste: a slightly stronger flavor than the others. Not strongly almondy, but definitely not watery.
Home-made
Ingredients: Tap water, almonds. Caloric value undetermined.
Color: white with a little bit of sedimentation. Aroma: fresh "raw" almond scent. Very nutty. Texture: similar viscosity to the Almond Breeze. No chalkiness although there's some grittiness when you get to the bottom. Taste: The first thing I noticed was a bit of a "bite", almost an acidity. Definitely nutty and the same "green/raw" taste that shows up in the aroma.
Comparison with sweetened versions
Going back to my previous review, I had sweetened versions of the Almond Breeze and Pacific Natural Foods brands. The Almond Breeze I noted as tasting "toasted" and the Pacific Natural Foods as "more delicate and flowery". (Interestingly, the sweetened version of PNF doesn't include vanilla flavoring.) In my previous comparison I found the home-made version to be thicker in texture than the commercial milks and -- as I found again this time -- with a more almondy and "raw" flavor. (I don't mean "raw" in any negative sense, simply that it made me think of raw fresh almonds.)
So I once again come back to my conclusion that, given how easy the home-made version is to produce, there's very little reason to prefer the commercial variants. (I could see taking the commercial route if you needed very large quantities and time were short, or as something to keep on hand in a camp kitchen, since the containers need no refrigeration.) The unsweetened versions are definitely preferable to the sweetened, if only for ingredient control, but avoid the Pacific Natural Foods unsweetened because of the vanilla thing. Overall, the Almond Breeze unsweetened would be my pick for medieval cooking due to the slightly stronger nut flavor and lack of unwanted non-almond flavorings.
