Plant Based Milk: A Real Peas of Work!
The market for lactose-free and plant-based milks is flourishing. There are now more plant-based milk alternatives than I can count. It seems every day I walk into a health food store and some new nut or bean is available in milk form. With such a wide selection it can be a little mind curdling!
So through this series of small blogs I am going to looks at some of the more common milks, and also a couple of the emerging newbies to the scene. I’m going to compare them in terms of nutrition to the traditional dairy milk. For all those suffering with IBS I will also discuss the FODMAP content — because even milks made out of low FODMAP plant alternatives can contain ingredients that make them high FODMAP.
For a bit of fun, I also challenged some of the FoodMarble team to a tasting challenge, to see how many they could identify when used in a white coffee. Check out the video at the end to see how they got on!
So…What are plant-based milks?
Plant milks have been used for centuries, with almond milk and coconut milk used in cooking as early as the 13th century. In fact, a drink made from ground and sweetened tiger nuts called Horchata can be dated back to 1200 AD in northern Africa. These nuts originate from Spain. In modern times Horchata is more widely known as a Mexican rice-based drink, so some simple deduction leads us to the conclusion that the colonists from Spain who arrived in Mexico couldn’t find tiger nuts to make their drink and looked to rice as an alternative. They also added cinnamon to the mix and to this day it remains an incredibly popular drink in Mexico.
Plant milks are made by simply watering down a heated slurry, made by grinding the plant. However modern manufacturers try and re-create the texture and mouthfeel of dairy milk by adding some other ingredients. Depending on the situation some will also be sweetened to give a more pleasant taste.
Let’s meet our first contestant: Pea Milk
We start with a young sprout — gaining popularity among baristas — pea milk. I first discovered this when I was getting coffee from a popular chain of Dublin coffee shops. I had asked for coconut milk for my americano and unfortunately, they were out. As the helpful server listed their non-dairy alternatives, I was intrigued when she said pea protein milk. Some further study since then has turned up more than a few brands offering pea milk. Its main nutritional claim apart — from being dairy free — is being very high in protein. The brand we bought also advertised less sugar and more calcium than dairy milk. Bold claims — let’s see how they stack up!
NB: Dairy milk can itself have different additives and different fat contents, but I’m taking our baseline of nutritional values from here.
Nutritionally this has basically the same protein content, less carbs, sugars and fats, and more calcium than dairy milk. A quick read of the packaging does say it has added calcium, something other dairy milk companies can do too, so it is hard to tell what the natural calcium content is. Looking at the ingredients, the main two are water and pea protein. The rest is oils, sweeteners, starches, emulsifiers, stabilsers, vitamins, salt, acidity regulators and flavourings.
In terms of taste, despite its lower sugar content than dairy, it is incredibly sweet — the milk is sweetened with cane sugar. It has an almost light brown colour. During the taste test it didn’t go down too well, with multiple people comparing it to play-doh. In terms of FODMAPs there has been no study on pea milk yet as it is such a new product to the market. Peas contain fructans and galacto-oligosaccharides (both FODMAPs) so the milk could contain these, but this milk appears to be based on the protein from peas. Since FODMAPs are carbohydrates, pea protein could have a lower FODMAP content. IBS sufferers proceed with caution.
The FoodMarble Taste Test!
For a bit of fun, I challenged some of the FoodMarble team to a blind taste test, to see how many they could identify. Considering the team, I figured that the best way to get them to try a variety of mystery milks was to mix it with coffee! Indeed, the idea of drinking seven cups of coffee had a lot of my colleagues excited. Each group of two had seven cups of half milk, half coffee placed in front of them and after trying all seven, they guessed each one. They got a point for each correct answer. The milks they tasted were:
Stay tuned for the rest in the series!
Let’s see how they got on!
FoodMarble AIRE is the world’s first personal hydrogen breath tester. It is a pocket-sized breath analysis device. It helps people with chronic digestive issues determine the foods that work best with their digestive system. To learn more about AIRE, visit foodmarble.com or follow us on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram or LinkedIn!
