Yesterday while I was looking for my beloved Wildwood plain yogurt at Whole Foods (which they don't seem to be carrying anymore boooooo!), I came upon an interesting product I had not yet tried; Amande cultured almond milk. I thought it was worth trying as I like to have a little creamy something-something with my berries in the morning.
I bought the plain flavor because I like to add my own sweetener to control the amount of sugar in recipes. The texture is not quite as creamy as soy yogurt, but the flavor is very nice. It does have that slight tang you find in most yogurt. It does contain 45% of the RDA of calcium per serving. This is an improvement over Wildwood's plain soy yogurt that has 30%. That is the upside.
There were a few things that made me go hmmmmm this might not be a regular option for me. First off, it is not organic. I do try to eat organic whenever possible, so for me this is a big thing. It is higher in fat, which is kind of expected as nuts are pretty high in fat. It has 10g of sugar, which is not a huge amount really, but compared to Wildwood's 4g it is a bit sweeter. For sweet dishes, it is a good alternative to soy. In savory dishes, it might be a bit too sweet. One of the main reasons I eat any type of cultured yogurt type product is for the protein and calcium content. Amande certainly delivers in the calcium department, which gets more important as I reach the magical menopausal years (oh joy haha). However, the protein content is only 4g compared to Wildwood's 10g. Amande has no iron, Wildwood has 10% of the RDA of iron. The caloric content is a little higher for Amande; 170 calories for Amande, 150 for Wildwood. With 20 calories difference its no big deal really.
Now I know my list of cons is a lot longer than my list of pros. This doesn't mean I don't like the product. It is fantastic for those who are sensitive to soy or are trying to limit their consumption of soy. Sometimes it's just fun to shake it up and try something different. Both products are comparably priced and are available in 24 oz containers. I do like Amande cultured almond milk and I do hope they consider making an organic version in the future.
I did make a yummy smoothie with the Amande. I'll share the recipe here with you.
Very Berry Almond Smoothie
3/4 cup Amande plain cultured almond milk
1 cup frozen mixed organic berries
1/2 cup organic orange juice
1t - 1T agave nectar (depending on how sweet you like it)
handful of ice cubes (optional)
Put cultured almond milk, frozen berries and orange juice in blender. Blend until smooth. Taste for sweetness. Add agave nectar 1 teaspoon at a time until desired sweetness is achieved. I like my smoothies a little thicker. If you do too, add a handful of ice cubes and blend on high until mixture is thick and smooth.
I’m so sad we can’t get the Wildwood brand yogurt here in Canada, it’s the best soy yogurt I’ve ever tried. As fatty as it is, I’m sticking to plain coconut yogurt for the time being with some Amande throw in from time to time to mix things up. I like the coconut Amande but there’s just something about the other flavors I’m not too fussy over. The only soy yogurt we can get here is disgusting and I love the creaminess of coconut yogurt, it’s a shame it’s so high in fat and lacking in calcium and protein.
ReplyDeleteGreat review! I was just introduced to Amande recently when my local co-op had it on sale. I'd never tried it before, and that seemed like a good excuse. The cherry flavor reminded me of the cherry vanilla yogurt that was my favorite growing up, before I went vegan. So that's one that I can see myself buying again at some point.
ReplyDeleteI tried the vanilla and coconut flavors, but I found them painfully sweet. I never liked a lot of the soy brands for the same reason though. I'll stick to So Delicious coconut, but this might be tempting for baking when on sale.
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