More non-dairy milk - but with bonus! over! excitement!

I imagine that after this post, you thought I was finished with milk and milk alternatives.

Me too.

Sorry about that.

You see, recently I found these:

And then, even more recently, I saw that So Good (one of Australia's largest soy milk brands) now does Almond milk.

Are you experiencing a rush of excitement alongside me? No? Maybe the full story will help...

The first (pictured) discoveries were made on a Monday, and a Monday when I was due to work from 7.30am (ish) to 7.00pm. I do this once a fortnight and it is fine, but on this particular week, I was also going to work from 8.00am (ish) to 8.00pm on the Wednesday, and so the first half of the week was looking a little long.

But then, for various contextual reasons, I didn't need to work until 7.00pm. In fact, I could finish at 4.30pm. And so I did.

What does one do when one is granted a bonus window of time that is nearly at the end of the day, but not quite?

In my case, the answer is visit a rarely visited supermarket. The supermarket that stocks exciting chocolate, liquorice tea, and just about the full range (I think) of Orgran vegan and gluten-free biscuits.

The supermarket in question, in case you were wondering, is a Farmer Jack's, a Western Australian variation of the independent Foodworks company. They aren't cheap supermarkets - especially not for me - but they can be exciting ones.

On this particular day, I was happily browsing the aisles, with no items as yet in my hands. I had travelled down the chocolate aisle, still had the organic and 'health food' aisle to go, and was passing the cereals and snack bars when the shelf-stable milks caught my attention.

Honestly, excitement doesn't do the experience justice. Giddy, oh-my-goodness-me thoughts and an adrenalin rush that I suspect could have been put to better use (running a marathon, say) than making me near hyperventilate in the supermarket.

The chocolate hazelnut milk caught my eye first...

In effect, nutella in vegan milk form. The ingredient list and nutritional information confirmed that this was definitely a dessert milk, but I didn't care. I was smitten and I was holding the carton tightly.

And then I looked along the shelf. Near hyperventilation may have progressed to hyperventilation.

In addition to the So Delicious Original Coconut Milk I previously found and reviewed, they had Vanilla and Unsweetened Original Coconut Milk in the 920ml size. They also had Vanilla, Unsweetened Original, and Chocolate varieties in the 8-pack 'grab and go' 190ml cartons.

Why does the opportunity to pay twice as much for individual packaging, that involves extra production and recycling work no less, make me happy? Well, 200ml of coconut milk per week is about all I really want. This way I can spread my consumption out and not end up wasting half a 920ml tetrapack. Also, remember those 7.30am start work days? They typically occur when I go straight from the gym to work. On those days, tetrapack non-dairly milk has the potential to be very useful.

After discovering this range of So Delicious milks, I nearly ran to the freezer section to see if they had started stocking the icecream range too. Sadly, no - nor the yoghurts - but on reflection I think it may be for the best. My heart rate and bank account may not have coped otherwise.

The verdict with regard to taste?

The chocolate hazelnut milk was, hands down, the best chocolate milk I have ever tasted. I can now say that I like chocolate milk, not just on cereal but on its own, when it is in this form. It has a deep chocolatey flavour that is enticing without being overpowering. Somehow it manages to not taste milky, whilst still seeming like chocolate milk, which is difficult to accurately describe but means I like it very, very much.

The milk was surprisingly pale in appearance, but the taste was richer than the colouring would imply.

All in all, I loved this milk. As with other nut milks, you can't taste the hazlenut, but the overall taste is one I would recommend.

The unsweetened coconut milk tasted, well, creamy without being too creamy, and slightly odd in its lack of sweetness. I liked it, but the taste wasn't like that of a milk drink I had previously tried.

It didn't curdle in coffee, consistent with what I found with the sweetened original version I previously tried, but in that form it tasted rather bitter - so I don't think I'll be using it for that. I like the idea of being able to take cereal and coconut milk to work, though, given I do have breakfast there twice a week and would be more than happy to snack on cereal with this milk in the afternoons of my longer work days.

(As opposed to dry cereal, which I already do more often than I like to admit.)

I have also found that cereal sucks this milk up in a rather pleasing way - for me at least, given I am quite fond of mushy cereal, even though traditionally I have liked my mush made with water.

This isn't the same bowl of cereal as above, but looked fairly similar before it was left to soak: sultana bran with 100ml (or so) of the coconut milk, left for 30 minutes in the fridge. With mango.

With regard to the So Good Almond Milk, I haven't actually tried this yet. I really couldn't justify any more milk purchases, but will give this a go as soon as my current stock of milk is run down. In the mean time, I have added the nutritional information to my original spreadsheet, and also updated that post with summary details of the two milks above.

I also promise, solemnly, not to do more milk posts for a little while. It's getting to be hard to believe that I technically don't like milk at all...


Have you had any exciting supermarket discoveries lately? Or tried any of the above products?

Tweet

Pin It