Good Hemp Unsweetened Alternative Milk Review

While looking in the alternative milk section recently, I spotted a new hemp milk by the brand 'Good Hemp'. It's a fresh chilled version (there is already a long life UHT option) and it can be found alongside the dairy milks in the chiller cabinet (Waitrose in this case).

Years ago I tried a long life hemp milk by Good Hemp but I couldn’t get on with the taste. I’m afraid it ended up down the sink. However, this new version looked so tempting: the bottle shape, the colours, fresh creamy milk against the bright green lettering on the bottle. I was swayed into picking it up and hoped that the taste had improved over time.
Here’s what it says on the bottle:

‘Made from organic hemp seeds. Naturally rich in omega 3 & 6. A great source of calcium. Enriched with vitamin D. Free from dairy, lactose, gluten & soya. Free from GMO. Suitable for vegans. A dairy free alternative to milk and soya made from natural hemp seed. Delicious on cereal, in smoothies and it doesn't split in tea or coffee!’

I absolutely love hemp seeds, the little shelled seeds such as those sold by Linwoods. They have a lovely sweet nutty taste and are delicious sprinkled onto yogurt. So I was hoping for that sort of flavour from this alternative hemp milk.

I tried drinking it icy cold, on its own, straight out of the fridge first. Immediately I was taken back to the last time I drank this. It’s hard to describe. A sort of cardboard, musty flavour. I’m not doing a good job of selling this I know! But that’s not what I’m trying to do.

I persevered and tried using it in my turmeric latte. This was better and more palatable as the strong flavour of the turmeric overrode the hemp. It wasn’t nice in a matcha latte and I wasn’t going to ruin a coffee or tea using it.

I tried frothing it after heating and this one doesn’t froth up at all. This is probably due to the fact that it’s very low fat.

It’s a shame as I like that it’s a source of omega 3 and hemp is apparently (according to the bottle) one of the most sustainable crops in the world.

If you don’t drink dairy, then this could be good to use in recipes that require milk or mixed with stronger flavours. On its own, not so much.

Nutritionally it’s very low in calories with just 24 calories per 100ml. It has practically no carbs or sugar and is very low fat. Not so great is the very low protein content, but it is fortified with Vitamin B12, Iodine, Vitamin D and calcium to match dairy milk.

Also available in long life.

Found in Waitrose, ASDA, Ocado, Sainsburys.

Ingredients:
Water, Organic Hemp Seed Extract (3%), Calcium (from Seaweed), Acidity Regulator (Di-Potassium Phosphate), Emulsifier (Sunflower Lecithin), Sea Salt, Stabiliser (Gellan Gum), Vitamin B12, Iodine, Vitamin D2.

Nutrition Information per 100ml:
24 Calories, 2.7g fat, 0.4g saturated fat, 0.3g carbs, 0.2g sugars, 0.04g protein, 0.03g fibre, 0.05g salt. B12 0.37ug, D2 22.5ug, Calcium 120mg, Omega 3 0.45mg, Omega 6 1,5mg.

Vegan. Dairy Free, lactose free, gluten free.

© Diets and Calories

Boundless Activated Nuts & Seeds Review

I'm snacker and always have a stash of healthy snacks close by.  This includes my favourite garbanzo chickpea snacks and Gourmet sodabread toasts.

Nuts and seeds are also a healthy snack but they are high in calories and very easy to overeat. So if you're watching your weight, it really pays to keep an eye on portion sizes.

If you're looking for ready portioned nuts and seeds, here is a fairly new arrival by Boundless, who have 4 varieties of nuts & seeds snacks. Their snacks won a Great Taste award in 2017 and they may offer greater health benefits because their nuts and seeds are activated. But why is activated better?
Nuts and seeds, along with other plant based products, contain phytic acid, whose purpose is to protect the plant. Unfortunately, this phytic acid can impair our absorption of important nutrients such as iron, zinc and calcium and may also make it difficult to absorb other nutrients.

You can get around this problem by soaking them until they start to sprout. This is what has happened to these snacks by Boundless. They have been soaked long enough to remove the bitter phytic acid and then gently baked.

What Boundless say:

‘When you soak nuts and seeds you activate germination – the sprouting of a seed to a plant – which releases all the natural enzymes and amazing nutrients Mother Nature had locked away for the growing process. And you wash away the natural Phytic Acid layer which hinders digestion. That’s why our soaked, activated nuts and seeds are super nutritious, lighter on your tummy and more in tune with nature.’

These tasty activated nuts and seeds are vegan-friendly, nutrient-dense, high-fibre, and a perfectly portioned treat that tastes great on the tongue and gentle on the stomach. They're perfect for snacking on their own, or adding to your porridge or yoghurt.

Varieties include: Turmeric & Smoked Paprika, Cayenne & Rosemary, Tamari & Aleppo, and Orange, Ginger & Maple.

The first time I sampled them, I could hardly tell them apart and wasn’t overwhelmed with love for them. They’re quite different from other snacks I’ve tried in the past. I think most nut & seed snacks I’ve tried have tended to be sweet and these are definitely not. Even the orange, ginger and maple is not what I’d call a sweet flavour.

However, I tried them all again and this time I could more easily differentiate between them.

The Turmeric and Smoked Paprika has a background spicy kick with the earthiness of the turmeric for contrast.

Boundless Turmeric & Smoked Paprika activated nuts & seeds

The Cayenne & Rosemary is dominated by the rosemary with a spicy kick from the cayenne.

Boundless Cayenne & Rosemary Activated nuts & seeds

The orange, ginger and maple is the only one with a slight sweetness and no spicy kick. I do like this one best.

Boundless Orange, Ginger & Maple activated nuts & seeds

 And finally the Tamari & Aleppo (ok I had to look up Aleppo – it’s a type of pepper) is the nuttiest snack and another spicy one with a savoury earthy taste.

Boundless Tamari & Aleppo activated nuts & seeds

All packs have nice clumpy, crunchy pieces mixed with small bits so they take a while to munch through. None of the snacks has over 180 calories, and, because I don’t like having more than 100 cals per snack, I usually have just half a pack when I feel a snack attack coming on.

Looking at the traffic lights, they do have a high fat and saturated fat content. However, this mainly from healthier fats such as poly and mono unsaturated. Although this makes them high in calories, the individual portion size helps keep control of mindless eating and the fat content should help keep hunger away.

At the time of writing you can find Boundless snacks at the following stores/venues:

• Albion
• Barrecore
• Borough Box
• Ethos
• Fenwick Newcastle
• Ocado
• Office Pantry
• Revital
• Rola Wala
• Sourced Market
• The Battersea General Store
• The Watershed
• Whole Foods Market

Ingredients Cayenne & Rosemary:
Almonds, Cashew Nuts, Pumpkin Seeds, Sunflower Seeds, Maple Syrup, Salt, Rosemary (1.6%), Cayenne Pepper (0.4%). High in protein, High in fibre, Vegan friendly, Gluten and soya free.

Ingredients Tamari & Aleppo:
Almonds, Cashew Nuts, Pumpkin Seeds, Sunflower Seeds, Tamari (8.3%) Cider vinegar, Aleppo Flakes (2.2%), Sesame Oil. High in protein, High in fibre, Vegan friendly, Gluten and soya free.

Ingredients Orange, Ginger & Maple:
Pecan nuts, Almonds, Pumpkin Seeds, Sunflower Seeds, Maple Syrup (11.2%), Ginger (1.2%), Salt, Orange Peel Powder (0.7%). High in protein, High in fibre, Vegan friendly, Gluten and soya free.

Ingredients Turmeric & Smoked Paprika:
Walnuts, Pumpkin seeds, Sunflower seeds, Maple Syrup, Turmeric (0.6%), Salt, Smoked Paprika (0.4%), Aleppo Flakes.

Nutrition information Cayenne & Rosemary:
Nutrition per 30g: 180 Calories, 18.6g fat, 2g saturated fat, 6.0g carbs, 1.2g sugars, 8.4g protein, 1.5g fibre, 0.18g salt.

Nutrition information Tamari & Aleppo:
Nutrition per 30g: 172 Calories, 12.1g fat, 1.8g saturated fat, 8.1g carbs, 2.9g sugars, 7.8g protein, 1.5g fibre, 0.26g salt.

Nutrition information Orange, Ginger & Maple:
Nutrition per 30g: 169 Calories, 14.2g fat, 1.7g saturated fat, 5.2g carbs, 2.8g sugars, 4.8g protein, 1.9g fibre, 0.21g salt.

Nutrition information Turmeric & Smoked Paprika:
Nutrition per 30g: 176 Calories, 15.2g fat, 1.8g saturated fat, 4.3g carbs, 2.8g sugars, 5.5g protein, 1.8g fibre, 0.08g salt.

© Diets and Calories

Jude’s No Added Sugar Ice Cream Review

Since the arrival and success of low calorie Oppo ice cream 4 years ago, other brands are now following the trend. These ice creams have no added sugar which means they have far fewer calories than regular ice cream.

One of the recent brands I’ve been testing are made by Jude’s who already produce a successful award winning range of ice creams. Jude’s ice creams contain ‘30% less sugar and 30% fewer calories than similar ice cream products.’

A whole tub contains 320 calories!
Jude’s currently have 4 varieties in the low sugar range: Peanut Butter, Chocolate (Vegan), Salted Caramel and Vanilla Bean. So far I’ve purchased the Peanut Butter and the Chocolate (vegan) flavours.

According to Jude’s MD Chow Mezger,  the new range was “designed to offer consumers choice… For those looking for lower calorie and no added sugar products, we wanted to offer ice cream with both outstanding taste and provenance.”

What the label says:

'We're Jude's. A family who love crafting utterly delicious ice cream. It all started with one man mixing and churning in a Hampshire dairy barn. His creations were lip-smackingly good. So good he gave them his wife's name, Jude.

Today top chefs serve our ice cream and we've bagged over 40 Great Taste Awards.

We're excited to bring you this lower calorie scoop. Smooth, creamy & delicious.’

Putting the calorie total in large text on the front of the tub is a great selling point. Each of the 460ml tubs contain 320 calories except for the Peanut Butter tub which has 390 calories.

If you’re someone who loves ice cream and finds it hard to stop eating it once you start, eating a whole tub of Jude’s no added sugar ice cream shouldn’t do too much damage to the waistline!

As I’ve have never eaten the regular Jude’s ice creams, I can’t compare the taste with those.

While I like peanut butter, I really bought this one for my two daughters who are crazy about the stuff. When taken straight out of the freezer, the ice cream is rock solid. You really need a hammer and chisel to extract it from the tub! But after leaving it out at room temperature for around 10 minutes it’s softened enough to easily scoop out (of course it depends on how hot your room is).

This one has a nice creamy consistency but I wasn’t overly keen on the flavour. I think it tasted a bit powdery, much like Oppo’s version. However both my girls liked it.

The Chocolate is a vegan version and has a similar consistency to the Peanut Butter. I though this had a fantastic flavour, really rich, with just the right amount of sweetness. I wouldn’t have had any idea this wasn’t a dairy ice cream. You can see the ingredients at the end of this post.

Jude's Chocolate Vegan Ice Cream

Nutritionally, they all get green traffic lights for sugar, salt, fat and saturated fat apart from the salted caramel, which just creeps over into the orange traffic light with 0.32g of salt. To be in the green zone, salt content should be less than 0.3g per 100ml.

To get the sweetness, they add erythritol and stevia. There are also some fillers and stabilisers in the ingredients (see below).

Here’s a table showing you the comparison in calories, sugar and salt for Jude’s no added sugar ice creams and the original versions.

Jude's Ice Cream Nutrition Comparison

	No Added Sugar	Regular
Per 100ml	Vegan Chocolate	Truly Chocolate
Calories	69	144
Sugar	1.9g	15.9g
Fat	2.7g	7.1g
Per 100ml	Vanilla Bean	Very Vanilla
Calories	69	135
Sugar	5.0	13.8g
Fat	2.0g	7.0g
Per 100ml	Salted Caramel	Salted Caramel
Calories	69	134
Sugar	5.0g	14.5g
Fat	2.0g	7.1g

Jude’s No Added Sugar ice creams are available at Ocado online and Sainsbury’s. 10% of profits go to charity. Vegetarian Society Approved.  Chocolate suitable for vegans.

Ingredients: Salted Caramel
Fresh Whole Milk, Vegetable Fibre, Soluble Corn Fibre, Skimmed Milk, Sweetener: Erythritol, Skimmed Milk Powder, Emulsifier: Mono and Di Glycerides of Fatty Acids, Stabilisers: Locust Bean Gum, Guar Gum and Carrageenan, Natural Caramel Colour, Natural Flavourings, Pasteurised Free Range Egg Yolk, Sweetener: Steviol Glycosides (Stevia), English Sea Salt

Ingredients: Chocolate (Vegan)
Water, Coconut Milk (14%), Soluble Corn Fibre, Vegetable Fibre, Sweetener: Erythritol, Cocoa Powder, Emulsifier: Mono and Di Glycerides of Fatty Acids, Stabilisers: Locust Bean Gum, Guar Gum and Carrageenan, Natural Flavourings, Sweetener: Steviol Glycosides (Stevia), Vanilla Extract, Sea Salt

Ingredients: Peanut Butter
Fresh Whole Milk, Vegetable Fibre, Soluble Corn Fibre, Skimmed Milk, Peanut Butter Ripple (5%), Sweetener: Erythritol, Skimmed Milk Powder, Emulsifier: Mono and Di Glycerides of Fatty Acids, Stabilisers: Locust Bean Gum, Guar Gum and Carrageenan, Natural Caramel Colour, Flavouring, Pasteurised Free Range Egg Yolk, Natural Flavourings, Sweetener: Steviol Glycosides (Stevia), Sea Salt

Ingredients: Vanilla Bean
Fresh Whole Milk, Vegetable Fibre, Soluble Corn Fibre, Skimmed Milk, Sweetener: Erythritol, Skimmed Milk Powder, Emulsifier: Mono and Di Glycerides of Fatty Acids, Stabilisers: Locust Bean Gum, Guar Gum and Carrageenan, Pasteurised Free Range Egg Yolk, Sea Salt, Natural Flavourings, Natural Colour: Carotenes, Sweetener: Steviol Glycosides (Stevia), Vanilla Extract, Vanilla Bean Seeds


Nutrition: Salted Caramel per 100ml:
69 Calories (320 per tub), 2.0g fat, 1.3g saturated fat, 9.1g carbs, 5.0g sugars, 2.6g protein, 0.32g salt.
 






Nutrition: Chocolate per 100ml:
69 Calories (320 per tub), 2.7g fat, 2.2g saturated fat, 7.4g carbs, 1.9g sugars, 0.7g protein, 0.08g salt.

 



Nutrition: Vanilla Bean per 100ml:
69 Calories (320 per tub), 2.0g fat, 1.3g saturated fat, 9.1g carbs, 5.0g sugars, 2.6g protein, 0.16g salt.
 

Nutrition: Peanut Butter per 100ml:
84 Calories (390 per tub), 3.6g fat, 1.5g saturated fat, 8.8g carbs, 4.8g sugars, 23.3 protein, 0.20g salt.

Related Posts:

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Halo Top Low Calorie Ice Creams Review: See post
Oppo Lower Calorie Salted Caramel Review: See post

© Diets and Calories

Tesco Free From Milk Plain Soya Yogurt Review

After sampling Alpro’s No Sugar Plain Unsweetened Soya yogurt recently, I decided to compare Tesco’s own version of soya dairy free yogurt.

Their soya yogurt is part of the ‘free FROM’ range and this soya alternative is free from milk. It’s unsweetened and gets a green traffic light across the board. It’s also low in calories and carbohydrates so helpful for those on a weight loss diet or low carbohydrate diet.


Tesco’s free from soya alternative to yogurt is sold in a 500g plastic pot and is selling for £1.25 at the time of writing.

It’s described as ‘fermented unsweetened plain soya alternative to yogurt, enriched with calcium’.

Tesco Free From Plain Soya Alternative to Yogurt

If you are used to eating soy yogurt, then the taste of Tesco’s own version won’t come as a big surprise. To my humble taste buds, it tastes just the same as the Alpro plain soya yogurts.

When you peel back the foil lid, the yogurt has separated a bit, but it’s wonderfully thick and very creamy once you stir all together again. There are some lumpy bits, but I quite like these!

Like Alpro’s soy yogurt, Tesco’s is very mild tasting, and is easy to eat on its own. I also like it with pureed strawberries and blueberries or some mashed banana with a few crushed seeds or nuts on top.

Tesco Free From Plain Soy Yogurt (before stirring)

This yogurt is low in calories, only 46 per 100mg, making 230 calories for the entire 500g pot. It is fortified with calcium so it’s on an equal footing with regular dairy yogurt and it has bacterial cultures. However it doesn’t tell you which bacterial cultures like Alpro do.

There are fewer ingredients than Alpro’s which is often a good thing. It doesn’t have the extra stabilisers and acidity regulators and uses a different form of calcium (calcium phosphate) rather than the tri-calcium citrate used in Alpro’s soy yogurt.

Tesco Free From Soy Yogurt (after stirring)

Compared with Alpros soya yogurt, Tesco’s has 9% soya beans compared with Alpros 10.8%. Tesco’s doesn’t have the extra B12 and D2 which is found naturally in dairy so if you’re following a vegan diet, you’ll need to make sure you’re getting these from other sources.

Free from milk, gluten and wheat. Suitable for vegans. Not suitable for home freezing and use within 2 days of opening.

Available in Tesco supermarkets.

Nutrition per 100ml:
46 Calories, 2.6g fat, 0.4g saturated fat, 1.0g carbs, 0.4g sugars, 0.1g fibre, 4.6g protein, 0.1g salt.

Ingredients:
Water, Hulled Soya Beans (9%), Calcium phosphate, bacterial cultures.

Related Posts:

Alpro Plain No Added Sugar Review - Read Post

© Diets and Calories