It’s never too lait to make the switch
Before ranking plant milks, it’s worth first exploring precisely what they are.from nuts or seeds, which have a milk-like function—meaning that they contain, just as mothers’ milk does, nutrients essential for the flourishing of the young. The precise milk-making process varies by crop and company, but it usually involves some combination of milling, grinding, soaking, filtering and adding—often sugar or flavourings, or in the case of oat milk, enzymes that turn starches into sugars.
If you’re choosing strictly by what tastes best to you, then there is nothing to debate; taste is wholly subjective. What about nutrition? Cow’s milk abounds in protein, potassium, calcium and B vitamins, most of which are not naturally found in non-dairy milks. But many plant milks are enriched with extra nutrients, such as calcium and vitamin D. Many also contain large amounts of added sugar; if this is a concern, be sure to seek out unsweetened varieties.
The other major factor to consider is the environmental impact of each type of milk’s production. Here too the answer is complicated, because plants can be grown responsibly or irresponsibly—though one choice is an outlier. It takes around four litres of water to produce a single almond, and most of the world’s almonds are grown in.