Rice Dream Original Rice Drink: Gluten-Free, Organic, Dairy Free

I have tried soy 'milk' and almond 'milk', and while I liked them, there seemed to be an aftertaste that caused me to not want to drink them all the time. Well, except for Silk Soymilk Natural Nog. That stuff is great. It is just not available year-round.

I discovered some local stores sold Rice Dream Rice Drink (rice 'milk') in the Original flavor and decided to give it a try. I am really glad that I did.

Before giving up dairy milk, I drank skim milk. I immediately felt like I was enjoying skim milk again when I had my first glass of Rice Dream. I love dairy milk, but it doesn't love me, so I had to give it up. Now, with Rice Dream, it is like I can drink milk again, but its not dairy.

I tried the new shelf stable version carried by a local store. It was 64 ounces and priced at $4.59.

Rice Dream Rice Drink in the shelf stable version is good for up to one year stored in a pantry, so you don't need to refrigerate it until you open it. Then it is good for seven to ten days. This makes it perfect for stocking up on when it goes on sale or when coupons for it are available.

I am currently trying to avoid sugar, so Rice Dream is perfect for me: no added sugar. The ingredients are: filtered water, organic brown rice, organic expeller pressed safflower and/or sunflower oil and/or canola oil, tricalcium phosphate, sea salt, vitamin A, vitamin D2 and vitamin B12.

Rice Dream Original is "Now Organic" (USDA certified) and is enriched with vitamins A, B12, D and calcium. Rice Dream Original is also gluten-free, lactose-free, dairy-free, soy-free, cholesterol-free and 99% fat free. Rice Dream Original is 100% vegetarian and low in sodium, with 100mg per eight ounce serving.

Rice Dream is made by Imagine Foods. They also make other Rice Dream and Soy Dream products. There was a recipe for Chile Cheese Polenta on the 64-ounce carton and a mention that more recipes could be found on their website.

I noticed that if I want chocolate milk and try to add Sugar-free Hershey's chocolate syrup to the rice milk, it will mix up, but it doesn't seem to mix as well as it does with dairy milk. I have used Rice Dream Original Rice Drink in cooking and it worked fine. There were no discernable problems with how it blended or tasted. The results in my recipes were great.

Rice Dream Rice Drink does come in other flavors. They include vanilla, supreme chocolate chai, carbob, enriched chocolate, horchata and supreme vanilla hazelnut. These are all found in the shelf-stable line.

The Verdict

Would I buy it again? Yes. However, the half gallon refrigerated version (non-shelf stable) is about a dollar cheaper, so I would probably stick with that one. The day I went to make my purchase there were only two cartons of that kind available and they were both past their expiration date, so I decided to try the shelf stable one.

If I wanted to stock up for some reason or there was a sale or coupons for it, I would choose the shelf-stable over the refrigerated version. They taste the same and work the same in cooking, so the only real difference is in how quickly I will be using them.

Sources:

Rice Dream website. www.TasteTheDream.com.