READ MORE FROM OUR “MILK” FEATURE HERE.
No beverage is more synonymous with childhood than milk. So we couldn’t have found a more honest panel of judges to critique milk than a group of kids. Children are thought to have more sensitive tastebuds than grown-ups. Whether that’s true or not, they can certainly be counted on to tell it like it is.
We brought together six judges (the children of MilMag staffers, and all regular drinkers of dairy milk) for a blind taste test of various milks – two dairy, three plant-based, which they tasted plain and in a bowl of cereal. Did one milk rise to the top? Which one made our tasters wrinkle their noses? Did eating plant-based milk with cereal make it more appealing? Here’s the unvarnished truth.
It’s time to pick your Milwaukee favorites for the year!
Dairy Milks:
- Prairie Farms Whole
- Sassy Cow Creamery Organic Whole
Plant-Based Milks:
- Planet Oat
- Silk Unsweetened Soy
- Silk Unsweetened Almond
The Panelists:
- Louie, 13
- Melissa, 9
- Emma, 6
- Myko, 6
- Alex, 4
- Clay, 3
Watch the Taste Test
Silk Unsweetened Soy Milk
Thumbs down
All six judges found it “watery.”
Louie: “It doesn’t taste like milk.”
Myko: “I don’t like it.”
Clay: Goes back for a second sip. Asked if he thinks it’s real milk, he nods his head yes.
Silk Unsweetened Almond
Thumbs down
Alex: Takes a whiff, is excited by the aroma.
Emma: “Tastes bad but smells good!”
Myko: Thumbs down
Melissa: “It tastes like nothing.”
Clay: Smiles. He likes it.
Louie: “Really watery. It doesn’t really have a flavor.”
Prairie Farms Whole
Thumbs up
Emma: “It kind of tastes like strawberry.”
Myko: Big smile
Melissa: “Much better [than soy].”
Louie: Correctly guesses that this
is real milk.
Alex: “Tastes yummy!”
Sassy Cow Creamery Organic Whole
Thumbs up
Alex: Jumps up and down.
Emma: Names it her favorite of the five. “It tastes like Froot Loops.”
Myko: “Good!”
Louie, Melissa and Clay: Three thumbs up
Planet Oat Oat Milk
Thumbs down
Alex: “Tastes bad.”
Emma: “Smells weird. … Tastes rotten.”
Louie of its taupe-y color, darker than the other milks: “It looks like dirty tap water,” “Smells like flour from a bag of flour.”
Melissa: Seriously grossed out facial expression. “It tastes like a pistachio peel.”
Clay: Smiles and takes another sip.
Myko: Thumbs down.
Their Favorites
Universal: Sassy Cow, Prairie Farms a close second
Favorites of Plant-based: Almond – Emma, Clay, Melissa, Louie and Alex. Oat – Myko
Oat vs. Almond: The Cereal Test
When we asked three of the kids to pick which one tasted better with Cheerios, their answers surprised us: The plant-based milks were much more palatable. Emma and Melissa chose oat as their favorite on the oat cereal. “It doesn’t look good, but it tastes right,” Emma says. Alex liked both.
