The Quest For The Non-Dairy Creamer

Alternatively titled, "Why does my non-dairy creamer have milk allergy warnings?"

I wanted to make some hot chocolate mix for my kids. The recipes online call for powdered milk and non-dairy creamer. For powdered milk I can substitute Vance's Dari-Free, but for creamer? I tried substituting more Vance's Dari-Free, but it's coming out watery and just not, well, creamy. Unfortunately, I couldn't use non-dairy creamer, because it's not actually non-dairy.

Casein is the milk protein to which people with milk allergy are allergic. So how do they get away with calling it "non-dairy creamer" when it has an allergy warning that says "CONTAINS: MILK"? What part of "sodium CASEINate" don't they understand? How do they get away with this? Grrrr....

So I went on a quest for a truly non-dairy non-dairy creamer. Now if there's anyone on earth who understands this need to know whether there's the minutest amount of milk protein in something, it's the Jews. So on the advice of my Jewish aunt I turned to one of the world's premier hechshers, that of the Orthodox Union. Their Webbe Rebbe (hehe, cute!) sent me a very long list of brands of pareve non-dairy creamers. However, I couldn't find them near me. But I did find one that wasn't on their list, Oxygen Poliva, on Amazon. It comes from Israel and is pareve, and it was eligible for Super Saver Shipping, so I bought it (along with some other things that, ahem, the children shouldn't see for the next couple of months). It should be shipping out soon. I also ordered some powdered soy milk, to try with this vegan recipe (scroll down the page) in case that doesn't work. If my family doesn't like the soy taste, I can always give it away to the family down the street that also has 2 autistic kids and is trying a GFCF (gluten-free casein-free) diet. I'll just put it in a fancy jar and tie a bow around it, and voila! instant Christmas gift.