Dug Drinks
- Potato milk might be the next best sustainable milk option. It's also free of gluten, nuts, and animal products.
- Dug, the company that makes potato milk, only ships products to the UK. But you can DIY it at home.
- It's white and milky and can be used as a dairy replacement in any drink, according to The Guardian.
- See more stories on Insider's business page.
A new product has entered the fray of vegan milk options. And it's made from potatoes.
Potato milk is supposed to achieve the same milky white look and texture of dairy and other vegan milks, but without the environmental costs. It uses less water than almond milk (it takes 16 gallons of water to make a glass of almond milk), uses half the land it takes to grow oats for oat milk, and produces less CO2 than dairy farming, according to The Guardian.
Plus, it dodges some of the most common allergies and dietary restrictions, since it's free of nuts, gluten, soy, and animal products.
Dug, the potato-milk brand manufactured by a Swedish company, can be bought online, but is only available to ship online to the United Kingdom. On its Facebook page, the brand said the drink had also launched in Sweden and China, with an expansion across Europe planned for the coming months.
The potato milk comes in three flavors: original, unsweetened, and barista, which is creamier than the other versions. However, the three liter sample pack costs 7.5 euros or roughly $9, making it much more expensive than dairy, almond, or oat milk.
If you don't live in the UK (or if you don't feel like dropping $9 on milk), you can make it yourself with this DIY recipe, which calls for only five ingredients and includes boiling potatoes, blending the potato water with other ingredients, and then straining the mixture through a cloth.
Veggemo, a vegan company which sold a vegetable milk that contained potatoes, went out of business after gaining ground in Canada, the U.S., and China, according to VegNews.
The popularity of dairy has declined for years while milk substitutes have gained ground, with demand for oat milk rising during the pandemic and major companies like Starbucks adding oat and almond-based creamers and milks to their menus. Oatly, a popular oat milk brand, saw its shares jump after its initial public offering, and is now valued at around $10.7 billion.