Soy Milk
1 Part dry soy beans, soaked in water, overnight or at least 8 -12 hours
5+ parts boiling water
- In a Vitamix, or other high speed blender add the beans and enough boiling water to cover the beans by an inch. Blend for 5 minutes.
- Strain through a fine filter into a large microwave safe pitcher. Add boiling water to bring the liquid level up to 5 times the dry bean amount. Once you’ve figured out what you like you can adjust this amount.
- Microwave for 2-5 minutes, or until the temperature of the milk is above 195 F.
- Pour into clean bottles, put on the lid, and refrigerate.
- Kept refrigerated the milk will keep for 1-2 weeks.
I love making my own things. It’s fun, easy, and often isn’t any harder than buying them. Often something I run into when making my own products is the machines used to make the best tasting, smoothest products aren’t easily accessible to a home user. This is where the internet is my friend. I know how production works, I’ve worked in commercial kitchens. I know how patents work, if you can find a patent, you can figure out how to make something. I can’t sell this product, but I don’t want to sell it, I want to make it.
When I was at University, I wrote a paper on soy milk production. It was basically a review of several different soy milk processes, along with some background data on soy milk itself. The paper was one of many that I wrote in my time at University, but recently I’ve brought it out to look at it again.
I decided that I wanted to try (again) to make my own soy milk. I’ve tried in the past, but the final product was not very tasty, and didn’t seem that nice. But this time I had science on my side. I knew what made ‘traditional’ soy milk taste ‘bad’ and what I could do to stop it. I knew several method of producing soy milk, and I knew the reviews of the methods. The Illinois method produced the best soy milk, but required homogenization and hammer mills. Not something I had in my kitchen. The Cornell method, which was older and didn’t produce as nice of an end product as the Illinois method, was quite a bit easier to do at home.
Traditional soy milk is made by grinding pre-soaked soy beans with water, heating the slurry, and filtering the solids. Due to lipoxygenase in the beans reacting in the presence of water, this milk has a beany taste and is generally un-palatable to Americans. The trick is to deactivate the enzyme, with heat, before it can create the off flavors. The Cornell method is done by grinding the beans with hot water.
The rest is easy.
1 cup of dry beans usually makes the right amount at a time for me. I bottle my soy milk in ~10 oz bottles so a single bottle of milk is usually only open for 2-3 days. I use a microwave to bring the milk up to temp for several reasons. The main one being easier clean up. I don’t have to get a pot dirty, and the milk tends to burn on the bottom of the pots. Additionally the microwave heats more evenly, and faster than a stove top. You need to heat the milk to inactive the trypsin inhibitor present in raw soy beans, which can cause digestive issues if not inactivated. The high temperature of the milk helps sterilize the bottle, and prevents bacteria from growing. Keeping the milk cold will also prevent any bacteria from growing, but to be safe, make sure to observe the milk before you drink. If in doubt, throw it out.
This milk can be used to make yogurt, tofu, béchamel, or any number of sweet and savory applications. As someone who often eats vegan I do have to pay attention to the amounts of calcium and protein I’m eating. Considering the calcium in cabbage is more available than the calcium in cow’s milk, I’m not too worried about my intake, but if you switch from store bought, fortified soy milk, to this home made version, you do have to remember you’re not getting calcium from your morning cereal anymore.