Pure Dairy-Free Delights

Pure Dairy Free is a major UK brand of dairy free products. Free of many things, in fact:

The Pure brand was developed for people with food sensitivities in mind, particularly those who have an allergy or intolerance to dairy. In the early 1990s, Pure Sunflower was developed and launched into health food stores throughout the UK. It's free from:

•Dairy
•Artificial colourings & preservatives
•Added flavourings
•Soya
•Gluten
•Hydrogenated oils
•GM ingredients

Pure also does two other dairy-free spreads, Pure Soya and Pure Organic, both of which do contain soy.

And now a press release I found on the TalkingRetail.com site announced that Pure is branching out to other dairy-free alternatives.

Pure Dairy Free Soya Soft & Creamy Spread (RRP £1.69) and Pure Dairy Free Soya Slices (RRP £1.69), have launched nationwide to provide dairy free alternatives to mainstream cream cheese and cheese slices. ...

The Pure brand, part of the Kerry Foods stable, is currently worth £7m and has experienced a 20% YOY value growth. Extending the range to encompass healthy cheese alternatives will reinforce Pure's position as the choice brand for consumers, with commercial promise for yet another profitable year for the brand and its retailers.

Launch of Pure Dairy Free Soya Soft & Creamy Spread and Pure Dairy Free Soya Slices will be supported by a multi-faceted marketing campaign.

This will include in-store promotions, online and press advertising, PR and a 50p money off coupon placed onto packs of Pure spreads to drive trial.

The Pure website will also be revamped providing consumers with recipes for cooking and baking with the new soya alternative to cheese products. ...

Pure Dairy Free Soya Soft & Creamy Spread and Pure Dairy Free Soya Slices are free from all dairy products, also making them suitable for vegans. They are also gluten and cholesterol free, as well as free from all GM ingredients.

Non-Dairy Pie Recipes

I wrote about Silken Creations from Nasoya in First Non-Dairy Starter for Smoothies and Desserts.

The first ever non-dairy "dessert starter", new Silken Creations from Nasoya is naturally flavored, dairy free, low in fat and calories, has no cholesterol and is gluten free. It comes in the three most popular flavors for smoothies and desserts: Dark Chocolate, Vanilla and Strawberry.

They sent out another press release which I thought at first was announcing a new product. Nope. Same Silken Creations. But this time their touting its wonderfulness for pies.

They didn't mention pies in the last press release. I don't know if they're just cleverly claiming yet another use or whether people weren't buying it to make mousse and cake with so they're trying to shift course.

In any case, what leads me to mention them again is that they give several recipes in the press release. And that means I can legitimately reprint them here and pass them along to you. Of course, you need Silken Creations to make the pies.

Nasoya Chocolate Silken Pie

1 pkg Nasoya(R) Silken Creations Dark Chocolate
2 tbsp cornstarch
1 prepared 9-inch graham cracker pie crust
1 bar of dark chocolate, shaved (optional)
2 tbsp water

Preparation Preheat oven to 325 F. Mix the cornstarch and 2 tbsp of water into a medium bowl. Blend the Nasoya(R) Silken Creations Dark Chocolate into the bowl. Pour the mixture into the prepared graham cracker crust and bake for 45 minutes. Cool at room temperature for 30 minutes, refrigerator uncovered for 2 hours or until cooled completely. Sprinkle chocolate shaving on top.

Key Lime Pie

1 pkg Nasoya(R) Silken Creations Vanilla
1 prepared graham cracker pie crust
2 tbsp cornstarch
6 tbsp freshly squeezed key lime juice (approximately 1/2 lb key limes)
2 tbsp water

Preparation Preheat oven to 375 F. Mix the cornstarch and 2 tbsp of water into a medium bowl. Blend the Nasoya(R) Silken Creations Vanilla and key lime juice into the bowl. Pour into the prepared pie crust. Bake for 30-35 minutes.

Strawberry Silken Pie

1 pkg Nasoya(R) Silken Creations Strawberry
2 tbsp corn starch
1 prepared 9-inch graham cracker pie crust
1-1/2 c strawberries, halved
1/4 c strawberry jelly
2 tbsp water

Preparation Preheat oven to 325 F. Mix the cornstarch and 2 tbsp of water into a medium bowl. Blend the Nasoya(R) Silken Creations Strawberry into the bowl. Pour into the prepared graham cracker crust and bake for 45 minutes. Cool at room temperature for 30 minutes and refrigerate uncovered until cooled completely. Top with sliced strawberries. Heat jelly in the microwave until it reaches a thin consistency and brush onto the strawberries. Cool in refrigerator for at least 4 hours.

More information about the product at their website or at parent company Vitasoy.

ZenSoy Soy Pudding

Joyce Clark Hicks is a writer at the Raleigh News & Observer as well as a mother of a dairy allergic daughter.

No, surprisingly, this is not another story about a mother writing a dairy-free cookbook. In fact she doesn't seem to be aware of how many their are. But she does pass along a review you might be interested in.

As the mother of a severely milk-allergic child, I'm often at a loss for finding truly dairy-free treats to serve my daughter. Enter the ZenSoy soy pudding line. Made with certified organic whole soy beans, the line is devoid of lactose and milk protein, making it a safe treat for vegans and those allergic to milk. The pudding comes in four flavors: vanilla, chocolate, banana and chocolate/vanilla swirl. The smooth texture makes it appear almost identical to dairy pudding, and the chocolate and chocolate/vanilla swirl flavors taste surprisingly like their dairy counterparts. I have no food allergies and I found these two puddings to be more than a mildly suitable substitute. Most important, ZenSoy passed the food safety test with my 2-year-old. She quickly licked the container and spoon clean and declared the pudding "dewicious" before asking for more. My son found the banana pudding equally pleasing. The vanilla pudding was more of a stretch. It had an odd aftertaste that I'm not quite sure how to describe. Still, three out of four isn't bad, especially when your options are limited because of allergies or other concerns.

ZenSoy makes puddings in Chocolate, Vanilla, Banana and our Chocolate/Vanilla Swirl flavors.

They also have four flavors of soymilks: Vanilla, Chocolate, Plain and Cappuccino.

They are all "free of any lactose, dairy, cholesterol, gluten, eggs, casein, peanuts or MSG" as well as kosher and parve. They are also "suitable for vegans." That's an odd phrasing and it only appears in the answer to a letter rather than as a claim on the main pages, which uses vegetarian several times but doesn't specify vegan. Probably just a quirk since I can't figure out any reason why they wouldn't be vegan.

f you'e looking for dairy-free desserts to make for your kids, take a look at the Parenting, Kids, and Special Diets page, the Milk- and Lactose-Free Books page, or the Allergy Books and Cookbooks page in my Milk-Free Bookstore.

A-Soy WIC Eligible

A press release announced the WIC eligibility of a lactose-free adult nutritional product.

A-Soy, a soy adult nutritional beverage specially formulated for people who are lactose intolerant, cow’s milk allergic, or who prefer a vegetarian diet, is now federal WIC eligible. Developed by PBM Products, LLC, A-Soy is a great-tasting source of balanced nutrition for people older than 10 years of age through life, is free of lactose, milk (animal protein), cholesterol, trans fats, and gluten.

There's also a children's pediatric version.

"A-Soy was developed based on the success and popularity of our Bright Beginnings™ Soy Pediatric Drink, which received an international award for being the top new pediatric nutritional beverage for children younger than 10 years old," said PBM CEO Paul B. Manning. "Developing a similar soy drink for adults and people older than 10 years was the next logical step."

For more information, go to their website.

Stalking the Elusive Kosher Cheeseburger

A kosher cheeseburger is a mythical beast, almost perfectly oxymoronic. Observing Jews cannot have milk with meat. A cheeseburger is the epitome of the code's violation.

Ingenious humans know that there is an answer for every problem. Just put quotes around "meat" or "cheese" and voilà! A substitute for the real thing that satisfies all technicalities.

Except, perhaps, for the one of taste. Real cheese on meatless patties won't work for vegans or the dairy allergic, and for many of the rest of us is mostly a waste of real cheese.

Soy cheese on top of real beef is also a nonstarter for many. The flavors don't meld together.

Unless, of course, you happen to be a New York chef with the proper industrial-strength equipment to grab flavor by its chemical feet and dangle it slowly over a fire.

That's the story of Effie Nagar, owner of Talia’s Steakhouse on New York's Upper West Side, who experimented with soy cheese to the point where he is now advertising New York's first kosher cheeseburger. (I have my doubts that no one's thought of this before, but puffery in the restaurant business goes back before time and is even legal.)

Peri Grabin Leong wrote about Nagar in the NY Blueprint, the urban Jewish event guide.

After many attempts to melt the cheese, they found the right temperature in a 1950 degree (F) broiler. A broiler so hot it can cook a steak in minutes. After taking my order (Effie recommended mozzarella over American cheese) Effie took me into the kitchen and offered me a taste of the soy cheese. I overcame my natural fear of fake cheese to find that I was right... it doesn’t taste like cheese. As the chef placed my burger back in the broiler I watched the cheese melt over it (yes, very impressive for soy). He placed it on a toasted bun topped with lettuce, tomato, red onion and pickles and I walked my burger back to my table.

Like myself, Effie, had never had a cheeseburger before, so he brought some non-Jewish friends to try out his new burger and they loved it. He told me that he’s had some lactose intolerant, non-kosher, customers order the burger. “It’s interesting for them too. It’s the only place they can have [a cheeseburger]. Show me another place [in Manhattan]” he said “I don’t know of one."

Ingenuity like this shouldn't be left to mere restaurant-owning chefs. Every one of us who have to avoid some food in our diets should be looking at experimental variations. Why deprive ourselves? Find the best foods for your personal tastes and indulge.

Blackwell's Gelato By Mail

Last year I told you about Blackwell's Organic Gelato and Sorbetto. Blackwell's is a "maker of 'soy gelato and fruit sorbetto, which are organic, vegan, dairy-free and gluten-free desserts.'" Their products were found in organic and specialty food stores. Which may have been good for those stores, but hardly made the products easily available to the general public.

This year Blackwell's has remedied that by launching a web online store, GelatoByMail.com.

You can get both their gelato and sorbetto there.

Blackwell's Organic soy gelato comes in a variety of flavors; chocolate, coffee, peanut butter, peanut butter & chocolate swirl, and vanilla.

Blackwell's Organic fruit sorbetto flavors are all made with fresh fruits. Flavors include lemon, mango, orange, pineapple, raspberry and strawberry.

And it's all good for us.

All of our customers appreciate delicious good food. Many of our customers have dietary restrictions or food allergies: some are lactose intolerant, some are vegan, some have celiacs (gluten allergies), others prefer a cholesterol free diet or a vegan lifestyle.

All of our frozen desserts are certified organic, 100% vegan, dairy free, cholesterol free, gluten free and preservative free.

It's definitely not cheap, but shipping and handling - packed in dry ice and delivered by FedEx - is included in the price.

More contact info:

Blackwell's Organic, LLC
9 Catherine Street, Unit D
Red Bank, NJ 07701
732.229.8899 (ph)
732.876.0358 (fax)

Soy Nondairy Alternatives

The Soyfoods Association of North America has a nifty page on Soy Non-Dairy Alternatives. The page features basic information, kitchen tips, and nutrition facts.

From there you can visit their Soy Retailers List that gives product lists, contact information, and links to websites of makers of Soymilks, Soy Cheeses, Non-Dairy Frozen Desserts, Soy Yogurts and other direct nondairy alternatives.

The site has numbers of other useful pages as well. Worth searching all the way through.

Soyatoo Nondairy Whipped Soy Topping

I recently discovered that Now and Zen, the maker of Hip Whip whipped topping, no longer seems to be in business.

While I was trying to discern that company's fate, I stumbled across a reference to a replacement item that sounds even better: Soyatoo!® Soy Whip™.

At the company's website, Soyatoo is described as:

»Real cream at last!« A dream come true for everyone who wants or has to avoid dairy products.

Soyatoo!® Soy Whip™ is the first completely vegetarian whipped cream. It behaves and tastes just like normal whipped cream, but it contains no milk or any other animal ingredients.

Soyatoo!® Soy Whip™:

▪ is 100 % vegan & free of cholesterol
▪ contains 40 % less fat than classic whipped cream
▪ is gluten free
▪ contains 0% trans fat and is heart-healthy
▪ is perfect with fruit, desserts & beverages
▪ has incredible flavor and texture and no soy bean taste
▪ comes in a practical spray can

Soyatoo!® Soy Whip™ is the culmination of creative know how of the company Tofutown.com, which is based on twenty-five years of experience in soy products. Soyatoo!® Soy Whip™ is a significant step forward for non-dairy milk and cream alternatives.

Calling it "real cream" is one of my pet peeves, but I suppose if those of us who are lactose intolerant or dairy allergic think of it as resembling in taste and/or appearance real cream, it's acceptable puffery. But real should be reserved for real, darn it.

Ingredients are:

organic soy milk (water, soybeans), organic coconut oil, organic fractionated palm kernel oil, organic sugar-beet syrup, organic maltodextrin*, tartaric acid, carrageenan, sea salt, natural vanilla flavour // propellant: nitrous oxide

Soyatoo is available at specialty stores and at larger retailers like Whole Foods.