You may have tried — or even switched to — oat or almond milk for your coffee and maybe soy milk for your homemade vegan mac-and-cheese. Perhaps you’ve tasted more recent milk alternatives such as cashew, hemp, pea protein, and banana milks. Now, you might find a new plant-based milk competing for your attention: potato milk.
At major grocery retailer Waitrose in the UK, the Swedish brand Dug is bringing potato milk to store shelves as the hot new trend in alternative milks. The brand prides itself on being “delicious and creamy,” and there are three options to choose from: original, unsweetened, or barista blend, which is ideal for foaming up for lattes.
Some milks, like soy, can separate when they hit hot coffee or other foods or beverages, but Dug promises its milk won’t do that thanks to an emulsion of potatoes and rapeseed. Because it’s made with potatoes, this milk also provides fiber, vitamins and minerals.
One major benefit to this milk is that it is dairy-, soy-, nut- and gluten-free, making it a suitable milk alternative for most people. Dug also boasts impressive sustainability statistics, because potatoes are a more sustainable crop to grow compared to soybeans, nuts and oats, and they’re more sustainable than raising dairy cows.
Potatoes are water-efficient, using 56 times less water than almond crops, and they have twice as much land efficiency as oat crops, because they yield higher amounts per square meter.
“If you compare dairy milk to a potato-based alternative, the climate footprint of the potato drink is significantly lower,” the Dug website says. “In fact, switching to a potato-based alternative reduces the climate impact by about 75%.”
But the real question is… does it taste like potatoes? The flavor is mostly described to be neutral, although The Guardian reports some customers have noted a salty aftertaste, probably delicious in creamy pasta dishes but less ideal for pouring into your sweetened coffee or cereal.
Customers in the UK can try Dug for themselves by purchasing it at Waitrose or one of four online retailers, including Amazon. Prices per bottle range from £1.80 to £2.39, or £11.00 for a three-pack on Amazon.
For now, U.S. customers interested in trying this potato-based milk will have to wait. Dug only delivers to the UK and is the sole commercial retailer for potato milk at this time, although in 2015, a brand called Veggemo launched a potato-based milk. That company is now out of business.
Still, Forbes predicted potato milk could be the plant-based protein trend of the year, and we could see this milk alternative in the U.S. soon. If you really can’t wait to try it, Food52 offers a recipe for homemade potato or sweet potato milk.
(Sources: EcoWatch)
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