Product Review: Hemp Milk

Living Harvest Hempmilk is a girl's best friend. No, really, it is. See, being a long time allergy sufferer I learned that milk is pretty much off limits in the Summer. Or Spring. Or pretty much any time the pollen/dust/mold count was too high. It tends to make the mucus linings thicker and therefor exacerbate any congestion I might have.


So, sometime in high school while working for Starbucks I started to switch to soy milk. And it was tasty and wonderful....except with all the other tasty and wonderful soy products I was consuming I was consuming way too much excess estrogen. This really isn't something you have to worry about if you happen to be a guy, or if you're not on some sort of hormone based prescription or if your body naturally has a lower amount of estrogen. I, alas, am none of those things. So I began to branch out and explore other non-dairy options.

I found that I only liked rice milk over cereal (which soon became an issue when I stopped consuming most cereal due to the gluten/corn content). It's really thin and watery to me, and tastes overly sweet. But I was thankful that my college carried it for the days the dining hall was out of soy. It's always nice to have more than one option available to you.

After the rice milk I tried Almond and Hazelnut milk. I will say right off that Hazelnut milk was not for me. I just couldn't deal with the taste. I am not even sure to this day what I would describe that taste as other than "off". Almond milk, on the other hand, I find quite delicious. Of course this doesn't really work for anyone with a nut allergy. And evidently anyone who has cold sores. (Are we seeing a theme with food and medical anomalies and me?) Pretty soon after I started drinking Almond milk full time I started getting a plethora of cold sores. Which meant that I needed to start looking at other options.



One day whilst browsing in whole foods I stumbled upon the hemp milk, which I had never seen before. And the two brands they carried were on sale. So we picked up a carton of each and brought them home to try. I can't say I even remember what the second brand was, other than it paled in comparison to Living Harvest. It was the first time I remember having a milk-alternative product that didn't scream "wow, this is NOT milk" at me. That isn't to say that it tastes like dairy, because it doesn't. However it does have a smooth, rich texture without being grainy, chalk like or leaving an after taste. And it comes in chocolate and vanilla as well. I like having flavor options for things like protein shakes and hot cocoa and baking.

I also really like that Living Harvest ensures that their product is gluten free. It's good to know for people with serious allergies and medical issues that they're insuring the quality of their product. I would recommend people who like milk alternatives to give it a try as it's tasty and full of healthy protein and omega-3 and omega-6 fats.

Happy drinking!