Plant-Based Milk: Rice, Rice Baby!
Following on from my second installment in this series where I discussed coconut milk, let’s now move on to another commonly used dairy-free milk, rice milk.
Have it with Rice Krispies for a double rice breakfast
In its most basic form rice milk is made by milling rice grains and mixing with water. In the brand we bought the ingredients are listed as water, rice extract, acacia gum, sunflower oil, lithothamnion calcareum algae and salt. The algae is a source of calcium carbonate, which has been an ingredient in all the milks so far. The packaging advertised that it is high in calcium, a source of fibre and fat free. Let’s compare these claims to dairy milk.
This milk is indeed rich in calcium, equaling that of dairy milk. It is lower fat and has slightly less sugars as well. However, in terms of carbohydrates it is significantly higher, with over double the carbohydrate content. Also, similar to the coconut milk, it is very low in protein. Taste wise this is neutral, which makes sense when you think of rice, which doesn’t have a strong flavor. In terms of FODMAPs this should be low FODMAP up to around 200ml.
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!
Just to recap…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.
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