"The fact that 70 per cent of the world's population has difficulty digesting lactose—the natural sugar found in milk—has led some researchers to hypothesise that lactose intolerance is in fact normal and tolerance is the abnormal condition.” (www.lesliebeck.com)
I know I have trouble with cow’s milk. Mercifully, that intolerance does not extend to my beloved cow's milk cheeses. In aged cheeses, especially well-aged, dry and hard varieties, such as parmigano or pecorino, enzymes and bacteria have already digested the lactose for us as part of the aging process. Butter is good too, since it’s mostly fat with only a small amount of milk solids.
Faux ice cream
But the dairy I miss most is honest to goodness, full-fat ice cream. Coffee, maple or butterscotch ripple. Thankfully, along came a whole posse of knights in frosty armour—the good folks who finally brought us faux ice cream. After years of tasting and judging I’ve swallowed some disappointments—often very costly—but I also have my favourites.
I’ve rounded up and given you the low down on some of the most common choices we’ve got in the freezer aisle. (Now if only DQ would come up with a lactose-free soft serve, I would be in ice cream heaven and my waistline would be in worse trouble than it already is!)
Rice (tastethedream.com/products)Seems you can make "milk" from just about anything. Which is a good thing, since some folks are allergic to soy. Rice Dream frozen desserts are also organic and natural—made from good-for-you brown rice—as well as being fairly low in fat and low-calorie.
Hemp (coolhemp.com)
Cool Hemp churns out a non-dairy frozen dessert in chocolate, maple, and natural. It’s organic, fair-trade, Kosher and nutritious. Organic Canadian hemp seeds—no, not that kind of hemp—are a fantastic source of super-healthy omega fats, calcium, protein, and trace minerals. Will your kids love it? Maybe not, but if you suffer from any inflammatory illness, whether bowel or joint related—no, not that kind of joint—then this is the stuff for you with its anti-inflammatory omega goodness.
Soy (soydelicious.com)The American-based Turtle Mountain have a few items from their fairly extensive line on the market here in Canada. So Delicious is a decent alternative, but it wouldn’t fool anybody, and your kids might wrinkle their noses. It’s not as luscious as ice cream and the soy flavour does come through. But, sandwich the soy cream between two yummy, chocolate cake layers and deception is almost achieved.
Page 1 of 2 -- On page 2, find out which faux ice cream tops Signe's list of favourites.
