Soy Bonanza

Sunday, December 23, 2007

I was asked some time back how M and I make soy milk.  Like a magician’s audience, you may be disappointed by the mundane truth.  Here it is, (don’t say I didn’t warn you): we went online and bought a Soya Power soy milk maker.  I know.  Dullsville. 

It cost $120 and came with a little recipe book and some “magic” cleaning stuff that we’ve replicated since its demise with a little soap, water, and elbow grease.  We bought it for two reasons, both of which have proved satisfying.  First, I was reading about how difficult it is to recycle those three-ply, aluminum insides boxes of store-bought soy milk.  We take them to Pottstown’s recycling center once in awhile, but we wanted to go a step further, and not use the things at all.  The second reason was because using one ingredient (soy beans) that was not local seemed simpler than using several ingredients coming from everywhere to some processing plant and then coming to us.

We’ve really liked the soy milk it makes, and if you add a little salt and a little sweetener (could be local maple syrup, though we usually use brown rice syrup), it tastes the same as the store stuff.  There are a couple of drawbacks--(a) you have to soak the soy beans/rice/barley/almonds (whatever kind of milk you want) a day ahead, which we sometimes forget (we keep a supply of store-bought just in case); (b) with or without the “magic” (that’s what they call it) cleaner, it’s a bit of a pain to clean.  The cup that holds the beans has mesh that really has to be clear of gunk before the next use because it clogs up otherwise and doesn’t produce as creamy a milk.

You fill the pitcher with water.  The beans go in the shute at the top to slide down to the cup, and are tamped down if necessary.  Then the whole thing gets plugged in and left.  It takes about 15 or 20 minutes.  At the end you have a steaming hot pitcher of soy milk, and, as an extra treat, a cup filled with okara--basically the beans without the juice.  M eats this okara as a cream of wheat-like breakfast for a couple of days and loves it.  I’ve also put it in muffins.

I have never been much of a straight-up milk fan, even when I wasn’t lactose-intolerant, so I will quote M here on the joys of fresh soy milk: “The best is right after it’s done, and there’s all this foam.” She drinks “a hot mug of nice, foamy soy milk,” says M. “It’s like a latte.”