“Oat Milk”

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“Oat Milk”

“There is no shortage of debate over what version of milk or milk substitute is ‘best’.

Some ‘milks’ of mention are; almond, coconut, soy, rice, hemp, flax, cashew, goat and cows milk which includes conventional, raw, and the ‘percentages’.

Whew! Even reading that was exhausting.

So, it shouldn’t come as much of a surprise as to why people are confused as to which one is ideal to be consuming in their daily coffee or cereal bowl.

Which one do you drink?

Myself? I’ve researched, tried and flip-flopped over almost all of them.

While not completely partial to any one type, I do try to avoid regular cows milk for the reasons of negative hormone interactions and adverse inflammatory effects to all the systems of the body. I am, however, always open to learning more about what I don’t understand and maintaining an open mind about things of this earth.

I don’t commonly eat cereal or drink any milk straight up and generally only use it in tea or coffee. For various reasons, my go-to choice is commonly coconut milk (ideally the thick organic stuff in the can). Fairly up-to-date on the pros and cons of the options that work or would work best for my body, I hadn’t yet tried oat milk until very recently.

Yes, you see that correctly…the above is a picture of Playdough and I bet you can even smell that photo.

Increasingly I have seen and heard rave reviews about oat milk. One very brilliant, sporty and amazing friend of mine is basically an unofficial advocate for the stuff so I figured it was time to give it a whirl.

My oldest son is always up for trying new things and he poured himself the first taste. “Mom”, he said. “Taste this. I tastes EXACTLY like Playdough!”

“Ew”, I thought with disappointment having felt like I’d just flushed $5.00 down the toilet…yes, worse than the Starbucks feeling. Apprehensive and hoping his tastebuds had malfunctioned, I took a sip.

Yep.

It tasted EXACTLY like that messy childhood pastime (but without the salt).

Needless to say, we didn’t continue to drink it and though I was going to throw it out knowing there would be no way it would get consumed in our home, for some odd reason I put it back in the fridge…maybe hoping I would come around because I really dislike throwing out or wasting food.

Well, I’m glad I didn’t toss it. A couple of days later I tried again but this time the oat milk went in my coffee.

Along with the organic maple syrup, the combo presented as a pleasant surprise. I still wasn’t convinced so I tried it in my matcha. I’m not sure why but something happens when the oat milk is added to tea or coffee. It was so good!

It was a bit nutty (no, not like Austin Powers nutty…), super creamy…creamier tasting than the coconut milk and it did NOT taste at all like Play dough. Seeing as it is apparently ranked as a top alternative as far as health and the environment goes, I may just buy it again.

If you haven’t tried it yet or you are looking at a dairy alternative, may I suggest you try oat milk.

Only instead of throwing it straight down the hatch, add it to your coffee instead…unless of course you are looking for a socially acceptable way to nostalgically remember the flavour of eating Playdough as you did when you were a kid…then by all means enjoy!

-Becky”