Shelf-Stable Silk Soymilk Compared to Refrigeration-Required Silk Soy Milk

It would seem that the Silk brand of soy milk seems to be the most popular. Generally when I go into a grocery store that has a limited selection of non-dairy drinks I find the Silk brand; this is also true when I am a grocery store that has a vast selection of non-dairy drinks. Normally when I get Silk brand soymilk I get it from the refrigerated section. However recently I decided to try the shelf-stable alternative that this same brand had to offer, so I picked up a small container that held one quart of soy milk. Comparing the shelf-stable to refrigeration-required Silk soy milk was a tasty test.

When I compared the tastes of the shelf-stable and refrigeration-required soy milks from the brand Silk I did it at the same time; I figured that this way I could pick up differences easier. Both soy milks tasted really good; I am tempted to say that their tastes were identical. This truly surprised me because I had compared the taste of shelf-stable rice milk to refrigeration-required rice milk and there was a slight difference if I remember correctly. The texture was about the same too, I could not tell them apart. This made me wonder how the soy milks were different in ingredients and nutrition facts.

Too my great surprise the ingredients were identical. Both the shelf-stable and refrigeration-required soy milks from Silk were made of organic soymilk that was simply made of filtered water and whole organic soybeans, organic evaporated cane juice, calcium carbonate, sea salt, natural flavors, carrageenan, vitamin A palmitate, vitamin D2, riboflavin, and vitamin B12. It is possible that the amounts of these ingredients could have differed, because the list of ingredients does not disclose the amounts of each item and only list them from largest to least used in the recipe. I imagined that this may make the nutrition facts very similar.

Not only were the nutrition facts very similar but they were also identical. A serving size for both soy milks was a cup and in a cup of both soy milks was 100 calories with 35 calories from fat. They both had 120 milligrams of sodium, 300 milligrams of potassium, 8 grams of carbohydrates, 1 gram of fiber, 6 grams of sugars, and 7 grams of protein for a serving size. The vitamins and minerals that were listed for these soy milks were zinc with 4%, folate and iron with 6%, Selenium with 8%, vitamin A with 10%, vitamin D, calcium, and riboflavin with 30%, and vitamin B12 with 50%. When I compared a shelf-stable rice milk to one that required refrigeration I noted that there was more sodium in the shelf-stable rice milk, so it surprised me that this was not the case with the shelf-stable soy milk.

Overall I was pleased with my findings. This made me think that I was not giving anything up by getting the shelf-stable soy milk, and in some places I can save a little more money on the shelf-stable soy milk. However, in other places shelf-stable milk is actually more expensive, such as at the main grocery store I shop at. For this reason I find myself getting refrigerated soy milk from the brand Silk instead, but I would definitely buy the shelf-stable again if it did not cost more money.