My Storebought Almond Milk Picks
Even though I LOVE making my own nut milks, I recognize that not everyone has the time, tools or sometimes even energy to make our own. Sometimes a recipe needs a splash of milk and I haven’t soaked almonds! The next best thing? Store-bought!
However, store-bought nut milks are tricky. They’re often filled with gums and fillers, which are routinely added to improve texture and increase shelf life. In almond milk, they prevent separation and thicken the drink. This actually hides how many almonds are actually in the product.
I narrowed it down to the products I found at my local grocery store that only contained ingredients I recognized. All 3 of the ones I found had only 2-3 ingredients— filtered water, almonds and salt! BUT not all these milks were the same. I conducted a blind taste test and compared them to the almond milk I made that morning. Here’s what I found, in order of best tasting, flavor and overall similarity to homemade:
The best store-bought milk I tried was the @malkorganics organic almond milk. By appearance, Malk looks the most similar to homemade milk. The scent was also the most similar. Malk contains approximately 20 almonds per one cup serving of milk. I really liked this one and would say this is my first recommendation!
The one I liked second best was @threetreesfoods! I would say the texture was the most similar to dairy milk (which could be helpful if you’re feeding picky eaters!) There is no scent really to the Three Trees brand and it tastes the least similar to almonds. I’d say this would be a great pick for a savory recipe that calls for nut milk. Additionally, I tried this one to make a matcha latte and it frothed up very nicely! If you like a lot of froth, this one is your best bet.
My least favorite was the @elmhurst1925— technically, it checks the boxes in terms of having only a few ingredients and by using a TON of almonds per cup of milk but it just tasted off to me. I shook it several times while taking these photos and it continued to separate. It contained a lot of sediment, as well. Additionally it’s worth noting that the other two I tried have much less of a shelf-life than this one (@malkorganics expires in about a month unopened), and this one would be shelf-stable until December 😳
In short, I’d still say that homemade nut milk blows these away by taste. BUT if you don’t have the resources to make your own or need milk in a pinch, I’d recommend both @malkorganics and @threetreesfoods. I found all three at my local grocery store, but they have store-locating features on their website! This is not to say there are not others that can be just as good, this is just what I found at my store!
