Three Almond Milk Brands to Buy

Almond milk is available any place milk substitutes can be purchased: grocery stores usually carry a decent selection. The advantages of almond milk: it’s vegan, dairy-free, soy-free and gluten-free, and in some opinions, including mine, offers a cleaner and yummier flavor than soy or rice milk.

In thickness and texture, it’s more comparable to rice milk than soy milk. The disadvantage to almond milk is that it’s thin in texture, but ultimately, many people find the flavor is worth it. The beverage is better for drinking by itself than for adding to coffee, however. For a long time, almond milk was usually available only in sweetened form, but now all of the brands dealt with in this article have unsweetened versions available. From each brand, I’ll be comparing the original sweetened and original unsweetened flavors, since these are the most commonly available types of almond milk. I’ll also give information on vanilla in brands that have a vanilla flavor available, and I’ll list the flavors each company produces.

Blue Diamond Almond Breeze is one of my favorite brands of almond milk to buy. Blue Diamond is a major almond grower, so it’s no surprise that they have a good grasp on almond quality. Blue Diamond makes almond milk in Original, Vanilla and Chocolate flavors, all of which can either be bought sweetened or unsweetened. An eight-ounce serving of Blue Diamond Almond Breeze (sweetened, original) has 60 calories, 2.5 grams of fat, 7 grams of sugar, and one gram of protein. The sweetened vanilla flavor has similar properties, but with 90 calories and 15 grams of sugar instead – suitable for making hot chocolate. In the unsweetened variety, an eight-ounce serving has 40 calories, 3 grams of fat, zero grams of sugar and one gram of protein.

All varieties of Blue Diamond Almond Breeze are enriched with vitamins and calcium.

Source: http://www.bluediamond.com/shop/natural/almondBreeze32.cfm

Pacific Almond Milk is very good as well, and has a great advantage to health-conscious consumers: it’s organic. It’s the only major brand of organic almond milk. In addition to the Original and Vanilla flavors available in quarts, Pacific also offers Vanilla and Chocolate flavors in mini boxes ideal for children’s school lunches. The sweetened original flavor has 60 calories, 2.5 grams of fat, 6 grams of sugar and one gram of protein; the unsweetened original flavor differs in that it has 35 calories and no sugar, and the sweetened vanilla has 70 calories and 9 grams of sugar.

All varieties are enriched with vitamins including Riboflavin and D2, but not with calcium.

Source: http://www.pacificfoods.com/our-foods/nut-grain-beverages

Almond Dream is relatively new on the scene, and has limited flavors. But it’s very vitamin-enriched, with a whopping 30% of the US recommended daily allowance of calcium, and 50% of the US RDA of B12 – great for lifestyle vegans. It weighs in at the lowest calorie content, with 50 calories, 2.5 grams of fat, 5 grams of sugar and one gram of protein in the sweetened original flavor; the unsweetened version is similar, but with 30 calories and no sugar.

Source: http://www.tastethedream.com/products/category/360.php