Photos by Varuth Hirunyatheb
Fortunately, for those who can’t drink dairy milk, there are many non-dairy alternatives out there. We combined all our milk-tasting skills to assess five different flavours of non-dairy milk.
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Contents
Safe as milk
S Weekly editorial team
Milk is great. Tasty and versatile, it can be enjoyed on its own, with your coffee or as an ingredient in many delicious recipes.
But sadly, not everybody gets to enjoy all this milky goodness. Many people are lactose intolerant and become ill if they drink dairy milk. It’s also not for those who follow vegan diets.
Fortunately, these days there are many non-dairy alternatives out there. Full of vitamins and calcium, they make good substitutes to cows’ milk in terms of their health properties.
But just being healthy isn’t enough. We wanted to know how good these drinks actually taste.
So here at S Weekly, we combined all our milk-tasting knowledge and skills to assessfive different flavours of non-dairy milk.
Here are our findings.
Sojasun mango-flavoured soy milk
(30 baht, 200 ml)
When thinking about non-dairy varieties of milk, the first thing that comes to mind is soy milk. But mango-flavoured soy milk was new to us. Made in France, Sojasun has a thick and cloudy texture, making it look and smell like yoghurt. However, it tastes quite different. Containing 20 grams of sugar, many of us found it to be too sweet. However, one of our panel — who has quite a sweet tooth — rather enjoyed it. Sojasun is also rich in calcium.
I-Corn
(29 baht per pack of three, 180 ml each)
This corn milk is produced by the famous fruit juice brand, Malee. With 12 grams of sugar, it was too sweet for many of us. The exception, of course, was the aforementioned judge with the sweet tooth.
Despite its high sugar content, the drink does have some healthy properties, as it contains vitamins A and E.
Almond Breeze
(59 baht per pack of three, 180 ml each)
None of us had ever drunk almond milk before and it took a bit of getting used to. In particular, we found the smell to be weird. But the S Weekly team is nothing if not dedicated. We persevered and after a few sips, it began to reveal its hidden charms. The almond flavour was nice and light. And it’s a very healthy option too, containing calcium and vitamins B2 and E.
So after that unpromising start, Almond Breeze ended up as our second favourite.
137 Degrees pistachio milk with organic coconut flower nectar
(72 baht per pack of three, 180 ml each)
Whereas with Almond Breeze we were able to get over the smell, this was not the case with 137 Degrees.
Almost everybody agreed that it smelled bad and as a result, we didn’t really enjoy drinking it.
However, one of our judges, a true connoisseur of non-dairy milk, said it smelled great and tasted good.
Although we weren’t too keen on the flavour, this is the healthiest out of the five. It’s packed full of vitamins such as B1, B2, B3, B6 and B12.
Freedom Rice Milk
(80 baht, 1 litre)
While pouring out this Australian rice milk, it struck us how much it looked like rice water. Since rice water is usually tasteless, we weren’t expecting much. So we were pleasantly surprised to discover how tasty it was — smooth, mellow and not too sweet. Nobody objected to the smell, either. Our international panel of judges was unanimous. Freedom Rice Milk is the king of non-dairy milks. Try it by itself or in your coffee or tea.
Freedom Rice Milk is also rich in calcium.
Learn from listening
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Vocabulary:
aforementioned : mentioned or talked about before or earlier –
almond : a kind of nut – ] เมล็ดอัลมอนด์
alternative : another choice – ทางเลือก, ตัวเลือก
assess (verb): to carefully consider a situation, person, or problem in order to make a judgment – ประเมิณ, ประเมิณสถานการณ์
brand : a type of product made by a particular company – ตรา, ยี่ห้อ
charm : a feature or quality that is pleasing or attractive – ความดึงดูดใจ,ความจับใจ
combined : joint; done together; belonging to or shared between two or more people – ที่ร่วมกัน, ร่วมมือกัน
connoisseur (noun): a person who knows a lot about and enjoys one of the arts, or food, drink, etc. and can judge quality and skill in that subject – ผู้เชี่ยวชาญ
content (noun): what is inside something – สิ่งที่บรรจุอยู่, ปริมาณความจุ, จำนวนของสิ่งที่บรรจุอยู่
dedicated : believing that something is very important and giving a lot of time and energy to it – ซึ่งอุทิศตัวเพื่อ
diet : the food and drink usually taken by a person or group – อาหาร, สิ่งที่กินได้
exception : someone or something that is different in some way from other people or things and so cannot be included in a general statement – เป็นที่แตกต่าง ที่พิเศษออกไปจากกลุ่ม
flavour : how food or drink tastes – รสชาติ
fortunately : used for emphasizing that something good has happened, especially because of good luck – อย่างโชคดี, อย่างเคราะห์ดี
get over (verb): to deal with or gain control of something – ผ่านพ้น, ยุติ, สิ้นสุด
get used to : to become familiar with something so that it no longer seems new or strange to you – ชิน
in particular : especially or particularly – โดยเฉพาะ, โดยเฉพาะอย่างยิ่ง
in terms of (idiom): regarding; used to show what aspect of a subject you are talking about or how you are thinking about it – เกี่ยวกับ, เกี่ยวข้องกับ
ingredients : foods that are used with other foods in the preparation of a particular dish – ส่วนประกอบ
judge (noun): a person who helps make the decision about who wins a competition such as a talent show or beauty pageant – ผู้ตัดสิน, กรรมการผู้ตัดสิน
keen : very interested, eager or wanting (to do) something very much – สนใจ, ใจจดใจจ่อ
lactose intolerant : unable to digest a substance in milk – แพ้ผลิตภัณฑ์จากนม
mellow : soft and pleasant –
object : to disagree with – คัดค้าน
on its own (idiom): by itself, i.e., without anything else –
option : a choice; something that you can choose in a particular situation – ทางเลือก
panel : a group of people who make decisions or judgments – คณะกรรมการ
persevere (verb): to continue trying to achieve something difficult – พยายาม, มุ่งมั่นทำงาน
pour (verb): to make a liquid or other substance flow from a container in a continuous stream, especially by holding the container at an angle – เท
property : a quality or feature of something – คุณสมบัติ, ลักษณะประจำของสาร
recipe : a set of instructions for cooking or preparing a particular food – วิธีปรุง, ตำรากับข้าว
reveal : to show something that was covered or hidden or not known – เปิด, ทำให้ปรากฎ
rich (adj): containing or providing a large supply of something – เต็มไปด้วย, อุดมสมบูรณ์
sip (noun): a very small amount of a drink that you take into your mouth – การจิบ,การดื่มทีละนิด
skills (noun): the ability to do certain things well, usually as a result of experience and training – ฝีมือ, ทักษะ
strike : to come into somebody’s mind suddenly – สะดุดใจ, ฉุกใจ, กระทบใจ
substitute : something that is used instead of something else – สิ่งที่เข้าแทน
sweet tooth : if you have a sweet tooth, you like eating sweet foods, especially sweets and chocolate – ชอบของหวาน
tasteless (adj): having no flavour – ไม่มีรสชาติ
tasty : having a nice flavour or taste – อร่อย
texture : the quality of something that can be decided by touch – เนื้อ
unanimous : agreed by everyone – เป็นเอกฉันท์
unpromising (adj): unlikely to be satisfactory or successful – ไม่มีแวว,ไม่มีท่าว่าจะดี,ไม่มีความหวังที่ดี
variety : a type of a thing, for example a plant or language, that is different from the others in the same general group – ประเภท ชนิด หรือลักษณะ
vegan : a strict vegetarian who eats no meat at all –
versatile : able to do many different things; having many different uses – ซึ่งมีความสามารถรอบตัว, ซึ่งมีประโยชน์หลายอย่าง, ซึ่งสามารถปรับตัวได้ง่าย
weird : very strange – แปลกประหลาด
whereas : used for comparing two things, people, situations etc and showing that there is an important difference between them – ในทางตรงกันข้าม