The Soy Milk Making Process

Fresh soy milk is exported from Japan and China every day, and is just a simple process of straining grinded soybeans until they leave the milk behind. The soymilk you find at your grocery store is most commonly fortified with calcium, minerals and vitamins. Even flavored varieties, like vanilla or chocolate, can be found.

Making Soy Milk at Home
Needed:

- salt
- warm water
- cheese cloth

- saucepan
- blender
- sieve
- Whole soy beans – about 250 grams

#1 Crack the soy beans shell and remove the hulls – thus ensure cutting down on the time needed for soaking. Leave the soybeans soak in previously warmed water for eight-nine hours, until they’re soft.

#2 Get the soybeans and hit them in the microwave. About two or three minutes should do – they’ll have become even softer by then.

#3 Place the now softened soybeans along with 2l of water inside a blender and start mixing on med-high speed, until they form a paste.

#4 Get the mixture and spread it onto a cheesecloth, setting it above a bowl or a jar, and let the soy milk drip. This process can be quite time consuming: you need to frequently push the pulp around, as to make sure all of the milk gets ‘extracted’.

#5 After this is done, pour in the newly extracted soymilk inside a saucepan and bring it to a boil. Boil it for about eight to twelve minutes, until the liquid starts getting thicker and more of ‘milk’ consistency. Put the salt in, stir and set aside.

#5 Put it into the refrigerator for cooling, it should be ready to serve after four, five hours. Soy milk will stay fresh for up to 3 days.

Choosing a Soy Milk Maker

In case you lack the motivation of soaking your soybeans and then grinding them, there’s always a shortcut – buying a soy milk maker.
These are a very convenient way of making your own soy milk at home, even allow you to enhance it or flavor it, resulting in something identical to what’s being sold in the stores.

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You just place soaked soybeans into the filter cup and add water depending on how thick you want the soy milk to be. The machine takes care of the entire grinding process from start to finish, adding heat to the pulp and extracting the milk in about 15-20 minutes. You’ll be left with fresh soymilk, as well as the pulp from the beans which can be used as a filler for breads, baked goods, and other foods.

Plain soy milk is an excellent source of protein, especially for vegans and vegetarians who aren’t getting quality protein from meat in their diet. It also contains B-vitamins, and offers an alternative option to dairy-free products for those who are lactose intolerant. If you drink a lot of soy milk on a regular basis, making soy milk at home offers one way to cut back on your expenses.}}}}}}}}}}}}

The main thing that must be considered before giving your baby soy formula is whether your baby has an allergy to cow milk. Apart from this, there are really no other symptoms of babies switching to soy formula. If your baby is allergic to cow milk, he’ll show diverse symptoms: diarrhea, excessive gas, fussiness while eating, vomiting, etc. If such is the case, it is still important to take into consideration that a vast majority of babies who are allergic to cow milk will most likely be allergic to soy milk. This involves 30 and up to 50% of the babies.

What’s also important to know is that when you’re exposing a baby in his early months of life to soy milk, it will make him more susceptible to developing allergies. The main allergy that they are likely to develop is, of course, soy. Knowing how soy is employed in so many types of food, this tiny detail could easily escalate to a very big problem. Ironically, if the baby is not allergic to cow milk and he is given soy milk, he’ll probably end up with an allergy to cow milk.

Since soy has so many wonderful effects on adults – balances hormonal levels, thus reducing the risk of cancer appearances, lowers cholesterol levels, etc., its prestige has grown so much that people started to believe it was good for infants too. Instead, the total opposite is true. It can actually increase an infant’s predisposition to some types of cancer.

Lastly, what’s important is that parents fully understand everything before taking into consideration a soy diet for their baby. They must know all the differences between cow milk and soy milk.

So, is soy indeed better for infants ? For a few, just a few, it may be. But for most of the babies, it may not even be the second best choice you could make.

Needed:
- rice: either brown or white: 2 cups

- vegetables, any of these: green/red pepper, bok choy, broccoli, spinach, mushrooms, carrots, onions – cut up: 2 cups

- green onions, sliced: 3 tablespoons

- tofu, cut into cubes: 1 cup

- canola oil: 1 tablespoon

- minced ginger: ½ teaspoon

- soy sauce, for extra taste

Preparing:
#1 Get the vegetables and start frying them, along with the ginger and garlic, until they tender, in canola oil.

#2 Grab the previously cubed tofu and onions and fry them till they’re warm

#3 Add the soy sauce. Can be served just as it is or over rice. Bon appetite!

Miso Soup

Needed:

- water : 2 ¼ cups

- firm tofu, ¼ inch cubes: 2 ounces

- white miso: 1 tablespoon

- barley miso: 2 teaspoons

- chopped fresh spinach/bok choy: ½ cup

- scallion, finely chopped: 1

Preparing:
#1 Grab a medium saucepan and bring water to a boil.

#2 Set ½ cup of the boiling water aside.

#3 Get to the remaining water, add the tofu and lower the heat to medium. Cook after covering the pot – for one or two minutes.

#4 Add your bok choy or spinach and cook for another one to two minutes, this time on low heat – can also be removed when greens are tender.

#5 Remove it from heat.

#6 Blend in the barley miso and white miso with the previously put aside hot water.

#7 Combine everything, add your scallion and you’re done, it’s ready to be served.

Creamy Herb Miso Dressing

Needed:

- soy milk: ½ cup

- white miso: ¼ cup

- brown rice vinegar: ¼ cup

- onions, chopped: ¼ cup

- fresh chopped basil: 1 tablespoon

- fresh chopped tarragon: 1 tablespoon

- fresh chopped parsley: 1 tablespoon

- honey: 1 teaspoon

- Dijon mustard: 1 teaspoon

- coriander powder: 1 teaspoon

Preparation:

Use a blender for combining all of the dressing ingredients. Blend until they’re smooth. Cover the mixture and put it in the refrigerator for a minimum of four hours – this is to allow the flavors to develop. After this, take it out and serve it with any salad greens.

Needed ingredients for making soy without having an ice cream maker

This is an old fashioned method, for which you’ll need agar-agar. It’s a gelatin similar to the substance obtained from seaweed. This can be found in any grocery or natural food store. You will also need to have malt sugar, vanilla, soy butter and soy milk. In fact, all these item can be easily found at any local markets.

You’ll also need to have these at hand: cheesecloth, large cooking pot and your freezer.

Step #1

First thing you need to do when you’re about to make soy ice cream without having an ice cream maker is to fill a small size bowl with cold water. Put one tablespoon of agar-agar, without stirring. Let the agar-agar in the water till it starts swelling. This should only take a couple of minutes.

Step #2

Once the agar-agar has started swelling, drain and place inside a large cooking pot. Put plain soymilk (8 cups), soy butter (2 cups) and malt sugar (2 pounds). After doing so, boil the mix for 4-6 minutes.

Step #3

After it has been boiling for 5 minutes, strain the mix thru cheesecloth into the large bowl or any other container that can be easily placed into your freezer. If you don’t have cheesecloth, a fine sieve can also be used.

Step #4

Add 1 t. of vanilla, or more if you fancy. If desired, you can always add fruit juice or crushed fruit instead of adding vanilla. What works wonderfully are crushed berries, giving you a fruity soy ice-cream.

Step #5

Place the mixture inside the freezer and let it chill and freeze completely. This time can vary a lot, it’s best to leave it a minimum of 3 ours or even overnight to be on the safe side.

Ok, so it’s now frozen. Remove it from the freezer and start enjoying your own home-made soy ice cream! To garnish, you can add fresh fruit or even a sprig of mint.

Soy is highly rich in protein, somewhere near 38-45%, and also minerals, vitamins, while having low saturated fat quantities. The FDA has discovered that foods that contain soy protein can reduce the risk of heart disease. This is done by lowering the cholesterol levels in your blood. Soy can be of help for losing weight, for instance, as it is the sole vegetable containing more protein than carbohydrates. Soy is also known to help by lessening discomforts caused by menopause and PMS.

Below you’ll find five recipes laid out for you to try:

Tofu Colada Smoothie

Needed:

- light silken tofu: 10 ounces

- bananas: 3 medium ones

- pineapple juice: 1 ½ cups

- coconut milk: 4 oz

- crushed pineapple: 8 oz

Preparing: Once you’ve blended all the ingredients until they’re all smooth, let them chill and garnish with pineapple and it’s ready to be served !

Bacon Ranch Soy Salad Dressing

You need:
- light silken tofu: 10 ounces

- soy milk: 1 cup

- ranch salad dressing: 1 package

- bacon pieces imitation: ¾ cup

Preparing: Blend the ingredients together, except for the bacon pieces.

After the dressing gets smooth, add the imitation bacon pieces and stir.

This can be used with as a dip or with your favorite salads. Store it in an airtight container inside the refrigerator.

Creamy Soy Mushroom Sauce

What you need:
- butter: 1 tbs.

- button mushrooms – finely chopped: ½ lb

- chicken stock: ½ cup

- soy milk: 2 tbs.
- soy cheese: 1 tbs.

Preparing: Get the butter and heat it on medium heat in a skillet, until the foam dies down. Add the mushrooms and sauté for 5 minutes. Add the chicken stock and the soy milk, then cook it for two more minutes. After this, remove it from heat, stir in the salt, pepper and the soy cheese. You can serve this over pork chops or steaks.

Soy Salmon Cakes

Needed:

- silken tofu, crumbled: 6 oz

- olive oil: ¼ cup

- celery, chopped: ½ cup

- onion, chopped: ½ cup

- salt: 1 tsp

- seafood seasoning: ¾ tbs.

- soy cheese: ½ cup

- cilantro, chopped: 2 tbs.

- parsley, dried: 1 tsp

- Worcestershire sauce: 1 tsp

- salmon, flaked, cooked: 1.5 pounds

And for dipping, some whole wheat flour

Preparing: Take 2 tbs. olive oil and heat it in skillet, medium heat. Throw in onion and celery and cook until tender. Start stirring in seasoning and salt. Remove it from the heat and let it cool down. When the mixture is cooled, put in cheese, soy, Worcestershire sauce and cilantro and mix. Also stir tofu and Salmon. Take the mixture and divide it into cakes, then dip them into the whole wheat flour. Heat the remaining oil in a large size skillet, medium heat. Throw in the salmon cakes and let them cook for three-four minutes each side. Let them drain on a paper towel and serve them with lemon slices.

Chocolate Chip Soy cookies

Needed:

- unsalted butter: 4 oz

- brown packed sugar: ½ cup

- white sugar: ½ cup

- vanilla soy milk: 3 ½ tbs.

- vanilla extract: 1 tsp

- soy flour: 1 cup

- whole wheat flour: 1 cup

- salt: 1 tsp

- baking soda: 1 tsp

- chocolate chips: 1 package

- chopped walnuts: ½ cup

Preparing: While the oven is heating to 350 degrees, start by creaming together the sugars and butter and also add the vanilla with the soy milk. Using another bowl, mix the dry ingredients and add them to the previously made creamed mixture. Fold in the walnuts and chocolate. Using tablespoons, drop onto parchment equally lined cookie sheets. Bake them at 350 degrees until they’re golden brown and enjoy !