A new milk substitute is joining the ranks of almond, soy, rice, and various other dairy-free milks.
It's called Ripple, and it's a plant-based milk that's made from yellow peas.
The drink has an impressive list of credentials: it's gluten free, lactose free, soy and nut free, GMO free, and 100% vegan.
Plus it boasts eight times the amount of protein found in almond milk — one cup of Ripple contains 8 grams of protein — as well as 50% more calcium and half the sugar of 2% dairy milk.
Ripple was created by Neil Renninger and Adam Lowry (Lowry is also the founder of Method cleaning products). According to their website, Renninger and Lowry wanted to create a milk that was both better for the environment and healthier and more nourishing than dairy milk.
In order to make Ripple, yellow peas are blended with other plant oils. Surprisingly, the resulting beverage is the color of almond or soy milk (an off white).
The drink comes in four different flavors: original, original unsweetened, chocolate, and vanilla. We decided to give the original a try.
The taste was fine, not great but also not bad. What I was more struck by was the thickness of the liquid; since it's made from plants, I was expecting a thinner consistency. It doesn't taste like regular cow's milk at all, probably thanks to its slight aftertaste, which is reminiscent of vegetables.
Here are the thoughts of some of the other people in our newsroom who tried it:
"It's interesting, but not very appetizing. It has a sort of graham cracker dust quality to the aftertaste. It would probably go okay-ish with a cookie or something sweet, but so would basically any form of liquid refreshment. Not my favorite."
"I like both peas and milk, so I was excited about this. I kind of like it, but it's a little too creamy, and kind of savory. The consistency is great, though almost a little too thick — it coated my tongue. Loved the first sip, then it got a bit too thick for me, and kind of had this prickly, almost sour after taste."
- "It's not bad. It has a thicker consistency than regular cow's milk, but it tastes virtually the same as soy milk. I’d drink it if it was offered to me, but I don’t think I’d buy it for myself."
The verdict? It's not bad, but it's also not good enough to make us want to switch from soy or almond milk (or regular milk for those of us who still drink it).
