Late last year, we rounded up a few nut milks to see how much sugar was lurking within them…
And, we received heaps of feedback that you all wanted to see how your other favourite milk alternatives fared. So, we rounded up a bunch of unsweetened oat, rice and soy milks and put them to the ultimate test!
Before we go any further, we must point out that every one of these milks – excluding the Bonsoy soy milk – contained vegetable oil. Yep, out of the six milk alternatives, FIVE of them contained either canola or sunflower oil. We’re not a fan of vegetable oils at all but we put aside our dislike for the sake of this post and instead judged the milk on both taste and sugar content.
Vitasoy Unsweetened Rice Milk.
The first thing we noticed upon pouring out this rice milk was that it was very watery looking and we soon realised that it tasted just as watered down as it looked! The team weren’t too keen on the taste, with our general manager, Jorge, remarking that it has “terrible aftertaste”. While this milk alternative contains no added sugar, the natural sugar content is quite high. A 250ml serve contains around 14.5g of sugar – nearly 3.5 teaspoons! Other than the dreaded sunflower oil, this milk also contains calcium phosphate, an additive which helps to thicken and stabilise foods, prevent caking and regulate acidity – we prefer to consume food with the least amount of additives as possible!
Australia’s Own Organic Rice Milk.
We quickly moved onto the Australia’s Own rice milk which fared slightly better. It had quite a sweet taste, with our office manager, Maddy, remarking “it almost tastes like the leftover milk after you’ve eaten a bowl of Fruit Loops!” Despite this, Maddy did prefer this one as it didn’t have an aftertaste like the Vitasoy rice milk. The sugar content on this rice milk comes in at 10.5g per serve – 2.5 teaspoons of naturally occurring sugar. While the Vitasoy rice milk contains whole brown rice, it was interesting to see that this Australia’s Own version was made from rice flour instead.
Pureharvest Organic Oat Milk.
Minus the sunflower oil, the ingredients list on this oat milk by Pureharvest is pretty good – literally just filtered water, organic oats, sunflower oil and sea salt. Head of content, Ashley, preferred this oat milk over both the rice ones, but Maddy wasn’t convinced due to the grainy and earthy aftertaste. This oat milk contains no added sugar but the sugar content comes in at just over 2 teaspoons (9.3g) of naturally occurring sugar per 250ml serve. If this milk alternative ditched the vegetable oil, it would be the winner when it comes to the ingredients. But, alas, the addition of sunflower oil is still a deal breaker!
Vitasoy Unsweetened Oat Milk.
First up, this milk is actually made from oat flour, not whole oats and we’re not sure why. Maybe it’s a cost-cutting method? Either way, our junior writer, Courtenay, wasn’t too impressed with the Vitasoy oat milk, saying that it “had a slight chemically taste”. With that comment, it wasn’t surprising to see that this version had quite a few more ingredients than the Pureharvest milk. The most notable inclusions were gum arabic – a natural emulsifier – and calcium phosphate, the same additive that was used in their rice milk. Surprisingly, the Vitasoy oat milk was much lower in sugar, coming in at 4.5g gram of sugar per 250ml – just over 1 teaspoon – which makes it a better low-sugar option.
Bonsoy Soy Milk.
We’re not huge fans of soy milk – while soy contains loads of protein, it has also been shown to disrupt hormones and trigger inflammation. But, we understand that it’s still an extremely popular milk alternative so we decided to try it out. While the consensus on the taste was mostly positive – our junior writer, Courtenay, thought it would pair well with coffee and head of content, Ash, found it really creamy – the team wasn’t jazzed about the ingredients list.
Not only is it extremely long, but it also contains tapioca syrup (also known as cassava syrup) which is a fructose-free sweetener. While, in theory, this might sound okay, this sweetener is still quite energy dense and we choose to tread cautiously (RMS is our sweetener of choice!). Another ingredient we weren’t sure about… Job’s Tears (also known as Hato Mugi). A quick google told us that this is a Chinese grain, similar to pearl barley, which has been used to treat everything from allergies to smallpox. While it can be used in food, it’s also popular for jewellery making… Sugar-wise, this milk contains just over one teaspoon (4.4g) of sugar per 200ml serve. While it is lower in sugar than some of the other, we’d still leave this milk on the shelf.
Woolworths Select Soy Milk.
Of all the milk alternatives here, this Woolworths branded one has the worst ingredients list by far. This one actually has added sugar in it as well as canola oil, emulsifiers, thickeners, acidity regulators and stabilisers – not ideal! And, the taste test wasn’t much better. Head of content, Ash, found it “really sweet, with a floury aftertaste” and general manager, Jorge, remarked that it had a “very wheaty taste”. As for sugar, you’re looking at exactly one teaspoon (4.2g) per serve, but honestly, we’d avoid this one altogether due to its lengthy ingredients list.
Do you drink any of these milk alternatives? Let us know!
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