Experiments in Home-made Soymilk

A girl at work and I got to talking, and somehow we got onto the topic of making soy milk. My initial reaction was disbelief.

I go through a lot of soy milk here – if the funds allow, I'll drink two litres of the stuff in as many days, or less. Never once did it occur to me that I could make it myself.

I went happily home from work that day with the following written on a piece of receipt tape:

Soymilk

⅛ to ¼ cup soybeans

Soak overnight

Cook for 15min to 1 hour

Pour into blender + top with water to fill

splash of vanilla

pinch of salt

tsp vanilla

spoonful vegetable oil (optional)

Pour through mesh strainer + voila soymilk

So. I went out, I bought some good quality vanilla [the organic, non-artificial variety], some dried soybeans from Save-On's bulk section, and a swath of cheese cloth.

When I got home I realised that I don't have a blender.

Addendum: Didn't have a blender. About one week later I got a belated Christmas gift from the Mummabear, which included an early Valentine's Day card, an pretty dragonfly hanging ornament, and a giftcard for Wal*Mart. The giftcard took care of my blender issue for me.

Since I had the ingredients sitting in my cupboard and no blendy machine to blend it all up, I researched homemade soymilk online.

A few things I learned:

1- Different websites tell me different things about the enzymes in soy beans. They all agree that an enzyme needs to be destroyed by boiling the beans first, but the details vary on why that enzyme needs destroying.

2- The soybeany pulp that is left over aftger straining the milk can be used in a number of different recipes. Also, a couple of websites tell me that the pulp [called Okara] is what is processed and turned into soysilk. I intend to find out more about this processing... um... process.

3- There was other stuff, but I'm watching Spike in a ridiculous red suit and I forgot it.

The taste test of this first batch ever didn't go splendiferously.

So for next time:

1- I will use more soybeans and less water. Hopefully this will help make with a creamier than skim milk texture.

2- Also, canola oil does not taste good. I don't know what a canola is, but I'm going to have to go ahead and guess the answer to that one is Not Vegetable.

3- Maybe I will not scoff at the notion that adding a piece of orange peel or fresh ginger to the boiling process will help everything taste better.

So, no more experimenting until at the very least I have some Not Canola oil. In the meantime, mayhaps there is something that I can do to make the batch I have now more palatable.

There are likely to be more soy related posts in the future.