Cow's milk is facing competition. In addition to soy milk, oat milk is also on the rise. Stiftung Warentest checked the oat drink - and is surprised.
- Oat milk has become a popular alternative to cow's milk.
- The turnover of oat drinks has doubled within two years .
- Stiftung Warentest took a close look at the milk alternative and came to a rare result.
Berlin - If you want to rely not only on a healthy, but also on an environmentally conscious diet, you can go for oat milk , as RUHR24.de * reports. According to Stiftung Warentest , this milk alternative is currently particularly popular: over 34 million liters of it was sold by grocers and drugstores in 2018. This means that sales have doubled compared to 2016 (more service articles on RUHR24.de *).
Stiftung Warentest: Oat milk quality remarkable
Officially, however, it may not be called oat milk , because the term "milk" is reserved for animal products according to EU legislation. Therefore, the official name is often oat drink or oat drink .
Whether oat milk or oat drink - the Germans seem to like the alternative to cow's milk. The substitute is used exactly like the model of cow's milk: in coffee, in muesli or for cooking. And that's no wonder, because the quality of the oat drinks is "remarkable" according to the Stiftung Warentest - but the taste of only three drinks is "top".
Oat milk tastes great with muesli or coffee, but it can also be cooked well with the milk alternative.
© Ole Spata / dpa
Oat milk: Drinks from Rewe, Alpro or Rossmann in the test
For the test, Stiftung Warentest examined 18 frequently sold oat milk varieties , 14 of them with an organic seal. Well-known brands such as Alpro , Kölln and Alnatura , drinks from Aldi or Rewe and oat drinks from Rossmann and dm were tested. A distinction was made between the drinks in oat milk with and without added calcium . The selection is quite large, because more and more supermarkets rely on vegan products *.
The testers examined the oat drinks for pollutants, tasted the drinks and checked their nutritional and microbiological quality. In addition, the oat milk is examined in comparison to the model from the cow udder - how sustainable is the oat milk really?
According to Stiftung Warentest, oat milk tastes of porridge
No oat milk failed in the taste test. "Everyone tasted flawlessly during the tasting - you rarely do," writes Stiftung Warentest . However, none of the oat drinks taste like cow's milk. Oat milk taste more like porridge or muesli. Most oat drinks taste sweet, some have a hint of vanilla.
Despite the different taste, the testers emphasize that oat milk can be used just like cow's milk. The sweetish oat drink would not go well with savory dishes like bechamel sauce .
Stiftung Warentest: These are the best oat drinks
Overall, the worst grade that Stiftung Warentest had to award was "satisfactory". But no oat milk was rated "very good" either .
The test winner is the organic oat milk "Smellk Hafer Liebe Klassik Bio" from Smöllk and among the oat drinks with added calcium , the "Oat Barista Edition" from Oatly wins . Oat drinks from Provamel , Aldi , Alnatura and dm were also rated "good" .
The "Oat Barista Edition" from Oatly , "Oat Oat Calcium" from Provamel and "Oat Original Mild Grain Taste" from Alpro won the taste test .
Only four oat drinks were rated "satisfactory", including oat milk from Netto and Kaufland . In the oat milk of Kaufland has Stiftung Warentest found nickel. The entire test result is available from Stiftung Warentest.
The Stiftung Warentest also tested cat food with surprising results.
# Cow's milk? From the day before yesterday! Now pour an emulsion of water and oatmeal into the #coffee. A blazing plea for # oat milk with a simple # recipe. https://t.co/wa7RoQICR9
- taz (@tazgezwitscher) March 20, 2020Oat milk is just as healthy as cow's milk
Oat milk is just as healthy as cow's milk: a glass of oat milk (enriched with calcium) covers about a third of an adult's daily calcium requirement. This roughly corresponds to the milk content.
The average calorie content of oat milk is comparable to that of low-fat milk. However, only one oat milk is completely sugar-free in the test . The sugar in the other oat drinks was not added, however, but is created in the production process, because enzymes break down starch in the oats into sugar.
Video: soy, almond or oat? This milk alternative is the best
But it wasn't just the taste that convinced the testers, the ecological footprint of oat milk is also significantly more environmentally friendly than conventional cow's milk. The oat drink produces 70 percent less harmful greenhouse gases than cow's milk.
3.4 liters of water are needed to produce one liter of oat milk, and an incredible 250 liters of water are needed for one liter of cow's milk. In addition, the oats used are manufactured at least in Europe, seven manufacturers use oats made in Germany. May
* RUHR24.de is part of the nationwide Ippen-Digital editors network