Milk, not milk.

Today, we try something new. While not severe, we have minor lactose intolerance issues. It doesn't matter if we drink factory-farmed cow's milk or organic, small farm cow's milk - it's the same response.

I had tried soy milk in the past, and the flavor was..."okay." Okay as in not awesome, and okay as in not terrible. It sort of tasted like the adhesive on the back of older postage stamps. It was that sort of okay. 

I've seen the commercials advertising coconut milk, soy milk, almond milk, cashew milk, etc., and as I happen to really enjoy almond (read that as - baked goods go from vanilla extract to almond extract in their recipes) I decided to try Silk's Almond Milk. It was on sale for $2.99/half gallon at Publix, and I had clipped a $0.75/off one half-gallon coupon a few weeks ago. My total investment would be $2.24 (plus tax) so I figured - why not? It's one of the least expensive "let's try this" moments I've had. 

Let's get the nitty gritty about almond milk out of the way before I talk about my review on it:

* 60 calories per serving, 118 calories per serving for 1% cow's milk

* 50% more calcium than dairy milk, (cow's milk - 35% calcium; almond milk - 45% : daily values)
* Vitamin E source, no vitamin E in cow's milk

* Cholesterol and saturated fat free, 10 mg cholesterol for cow's milk and 2 g saturated fat

* Free of dairy, soy, lactose, gluten, casein, egg, and MSG (cow's milk - you do the math)
* Non-GMO almonds, some cow's milk may be from cows fed GMO grains (we aren't anti GMO nuts, but it's worth mentioning for those who are concerned about GMO)

Other nutrition breakdown:
60 calories
2.5 g total fat

0 cholesterol

160 mg sodium

35 mg potassium

8 g carbohydrates

1 g protein

10% vitamin A

45% calcium

4% riboflavin

0% vitamin C

2% iron

20% vitamin E

4% magnesium

Milk nutrition breakdown (1%) :
118 calories

3 g total fat

10 mg cholesterol

143 mg sodium

0 potassium

14 g carbohydrates

10 g protein

10% vitamin A
35% calcium

5% vitamin C

1% iron

The one thing cow's milk has going for it that almond milk does not is protein. Everything else? Almond milk wins in my book. 

My review:

The commercials boast almond milk as being silky and smooth "just like real milk" and a "good milk substitute." I poured myself a glass (see the photo above?) Immediately you can see that it is creamy and smooth and somewhat resembles dairy milk. If I showed you the above picture without identifying it, you might say it is dairy milk, but it's not. 

I purchased the original flavor (I didn't want to be biased.) It has a mild almond flavor, and it is a creamy consistency, but it's not the heavy creamy consistency that sits on your tongue like dairy milk. It's creamy, and then it's gone. It is okay - I could drink it.

However, when you do more research into commercial almond milk, you'll quickly find that all of the good stuff from almonds gets lost when it becomes commercialized almond milk (like protein.) If I was to continue to drink almond milk, I'd probably look at recipes for making my own.