As someone who can't drink cow and goat milk because of a Type II allergy, I use rice milk. I stay away from soy milk because it affects my metabolism. The brand of rice milk I would use by the bucket load is Whole Foods 365 Rice Milk in Original flavor. I love the stuff. I like it better than Rice Dream, although, I really love the Rice Dream ice creams.
Anyway, Whole Foods not only has redesigned the packaging of all their Rice Milks, they changed the recipe, and there is a definite taste and texture difference, and I am very unhappy about the changes except for one which I'll explain later. The change in recipe is a big deal to me because rice milk is one of my staples. I drink it every day, and I really loved the Old Original flavor milk.
Besides changing the recipe, Whole Foods 365 added a new flavor "Unsweetened" which I will go try now because my favorite Original flavor is very different, and me no likely in a new Coke kind of way. Here I've taken a picture of the Original flavor, "Old" rice milk on the left, and the "New" Rice Milk on the right. In red, I highlighted the ingredient differences.
What I don't like about the New milk is that it's thicker, it's an icky brownish color, and it tastes sweeter although ironically New milk has 4g less sugar than Old milk, and New milk has 20 less calories per 8oz serving. The major changes between the two milks:
- New milk is made from brown rice and Old milk was not
- New milk has rice syrups
- Old milk had sunflower oil but New milk does not
- New milk has vanilla extract and natural flavor added
- New milk has B12 which Old milk did not
The addition of B12 is the one change I do find exciting because a common vitamin deficiency that vegans have is with B12 because that vitamin is found more in animal proteins than in plants. I'm a flexitarian, so the B12 is not that biggie issue for me, but the fact that I can get more from my rice milk is a nice thing. New milk is also stamped "Vegan" on the front which it wasn't before even though Old milk was still vegan friendly. The stamp is a pure marketing thing.
I'm off to go try the Unsweetened rice milk now. Hopefully, crossing my fingers, it tastes like my old favorite. {sniffle} I do miss my Old milk. Anyone else notice the new change? What are your thoughts?
