Nannys Simple Soymilk

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Recipe submitted by nehring@ice.net

Nannys Simple Soymilk

Ingredients (use vegan versions):

2 cups of organic soybeans and water

Directions:

Makes: a gallon, give or take.

Preparation time: 1/2 hr.-1 hr..

Rinse and soak the beans overnight (or at least 10 hours) in the fridge. when yer ready, drain and rinse the beans...

Heres where you can do one of two things:

either grind the beans into a paste using a grain mill and add to a pot of 12 c. boiling water...OR... process the beans in a blender or food processor with boiling water (3/4 c. beans to 1 3/4 c. boiling water at a time) and pour into a big heavy pot. (Note: It is important to not over estimate your blenders abilities. Be careful to not burn out your blender while grinding beans. A food processor offers better results (with sharp blade)).

bring yer soy-milky-sludgy goodie to a boil while stirring over medium to high heat. TURN DOWN IMMEDIATELY AFTER IT STARTS TO BOIL OR YOULL HAVE A MESS. now you can just let it simmer (no stirring necessary) for 20-30 minutes.

Meanwhile...line a colander with a thin cloth and set it up over a big bowl or another pot. when the soymilk is cooked, ladle it into the colander, straining the pulp (called okara) in the cloth and allowing the milk to collect in the bowl. make sure to squeeze all the milk you can from the okara before transferring it into a jug or two to cool. the last step is to taste yer creation...need more water? hows about a little sweetner, vanilla, carob or some sea salt?

The okara can be steamed for an hour and added to vegan breads in place of some of the flour and liquid, and to burger-type recipes in place of the tofu...

Its a mess but the milk is delicous & full flavored, as opposed to the boxed variety we normally buy.

Archived comment by: anne

This rich, pure soymilk is easy to make. Its kind of fun (for a crazy person like me at least). Like baking your own vegan bread. Also is it SO much cheaper and BETTER tasting than boxed soymilk. Around here soymilk can cost $16.00 a gallon. This recipe costs about a dollar or two a gallon. Thanks!

Archived comment by: heather

Nanny, the recipe looks really good! I tried it at home and the product is fantastic. Jose

Archived comment by: jose

Some soymilk makers say that to decrease the beany flavor, for a milder milk, you should cook the sludge for up to 45 minutes. Which is what I do, and its still somewhat beany. 2-3 teaspoons of salt per gallon, a good dose of brown rice syurp (the high quality soymilk sweetener) and real, organic vanilla (imitation vanilla is a wood pulp product!) make a kicking soymilk. And a special soymilk soybean can be ordered that is suppose to make the best if you are trying to replicate your favorite soya drink.

Archived comment by: erin

THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! I have been looking for a good milk recipe for a while. I guess I should have checked here first. The other store bought soy milks are so expensive so I appreciate this cheaper yet yummy alternative.

Archived comment by: delighted

Hello, Just wanted to add (for those a bit new to the vegan thing) that there are several great vegan calcium sources out there! Many of them don't even cost much: Dried figs, sesame seeds, tahini (which is like PB but more bitter and made w/sesame seeds), white beans/pulses, almonds, almond milk/butter, swede, parsley, broccoli, and green leafy veggies. Of course, calcium-set tofu (check labels, most are) and soy/rice milks & yogurts & ice creams are just as great, but a bit more pricey. Tescos makes great tasting soya milk sweetened with apple juice concentrate for 69p a liter if you're in the UK.

Archived comment by: vegan_carnival

If you want the best soy bean for making milk (I bought 30lbs) is the Laura Bean . They ship it right to your door. I tried all kinds from different health food store and I can say YICK to all of them, once I tried this bean. Its the smoothes I've tasted. AND I am picky!!! I make my milk from two differet soymakers. I still strain several times to get the pulpiness out. Its only 8.00 for 10lbs. http://store.yahoo.com/fftosteds-store/higqualnonfo.html Fairview Farms 2304 150th Street Corwith, IA 50430 (515) 583 2198 e-mail: jonathan@fairviewfarms.com Fax: 515 583-2192 jonathan@fairviewfarms.com

Archived comment by: heiki

How long will homemade soymilk stay fresh?

Archived comment by: kreiber

What type of soybeans do you use? Does it matter?

Archived comment by: stride4unity

I would love to try this, but the inconsistencies have me confused. It says it makes a gallon, give or take, which would be approximately 128 ounces. By the first method (with a grain mill), that sounds about right (12C of water = 96 ounces, plus whatever the soaked beans add). The blender method, howe'ver (which is probably what I would need to use, since I don't know where to get a grain mill here in Honduras) only adds 1 3/4C of water for every 3/4C of beans. Thats only 37 1/3 ounces, plus whatever the beans add, thus yielding only a little more than a quart instead of the near gallon of the other method. Has anyone here tried BOTH methods to be able to say what the difference is like and to suggest whether or not there may be a typo in the recipe, or maybe something missing (like, perhaps, adding more water to the pot)? Maybe the instructions REALLY mean to process the beans in a blender, with that much water FIRST, THEN to add it to the 12C of water one would have used anyway, but that is not very clear from the instructions. I have seen this recipe in several places on the web, but it is always EXACTLY the same, and I have yet to see anyone else comment about the inconsistency of the water amounts. Any assistance would be
greatly appreciated. The beans have already been soaked long enough, so I need to decide what to do next. Soymilk IS available down here (the Silk brand), but it is $1.70 per quart, versus regular milk at $1.16 per half-gallon. On the other hand, the two cups of soybeans needed for this recipe only cost 50 cents! Thanks! --Rob

Archived comment by: labradors

I assume that they mean to only add a small amount of water at first in the blender (simply because of capacity) then add the total amount of water to the stock pot. One thing that I did find amusing though was the suggestion to add sea salt-- If you add enough, it will make the milk curdle into tofu. Thats how they did it back in the day... but we extract the specific mineral to curdle the tofu without the extra salt.

Archived comment by: musuron

labradors - when i made the recipe, i only used the water that it called for to blend the beans with (1.75 C per 1 C o beans). total finishe'd product (w/o adding water after cooking and filtering) filled a 2 liter bottle. i was so upset b/c after all the soaking and blending and cooking and filtering i did (which was not the neatest project ive ever undertaken), i let my boyfriend do the flavoring and he mustve added about 1/4 C of salt. at least that's what it tasted like anyways...i had to toss it down the drain...it was totally undrinkable. before mr. flavor got to it, i tasted it and thought it was way beany so i would be interested in trying the laura bean like heiki suggested. oh yeah, and i wish i had a grain mill cuz io think that would've made this a lot easier. p.s. has anyone used any of the commercial soymilk makers? any tips or suggestions on buying one? what brand makers have you tried? peace

Archived comment by: moonshinecaroline

Okay. Heres what I did: I boiled the 12C of water called for, then took the 1 3/4C to use in the blender (with each 3/4C of beans) FROM that 12C stock. My initial calculation about how much would be needed was incorrect, since I had based it upon the number of cups of DRY beans. The soaked beans had, of course, considerably increased in volume, so it took almost the entire 12C of boiling water by the time I was done running all the beans through the blender. Then I poured the blended mixture back into the pot with what was left of the 12C of water. Based upon other peoples comments, I let it cook for 45 minutes instead of just 20 or 30. When I was done with all the cooking and straining, etc., I wound up with a little less than two litres of soymilk. This resulting product was considerably beany, so I tried adding some salt, sweetener, and vanilla to it, but it was still VERY beany. Finally, in a last-ditch attempt to rescue this, I DILUTED IT! I added enough water so that it WOULD be a gallon (as the recipe had stated). Then I readjusted the salt and sweetener (wound up with a little too much salt, but not TOO bad), and it was DELICIOUS, and almost like store-bought (though better without being super beany). This will be
a real boon to me since, as stated in my previous message, the price of one quart of store-bought soymilk down here is $1.70, but the beans to make my own only cost 50 CENTS! Final assessment: five stars, after recipe adjustments!

Archived comment by: labradors

Labradors, you seem to know what you're doing with this recipe. And this recipe looks very challenging. Could you write out how much sweetner and salt you used? And when you say dry beans you do mean uncooked beans, correct? I am anxious to give up cows milk and am looking for an inexpensive alternative.

Archived comment by: stride4unity

Stride, its not so much that I know what I'm doing, but what I DID. LOL! The detail that I gave was the result of my having tried the recipe, not liking the initial results (see others comments about beany flavor), and then doing what I could to salvage it. In the end, it turned out very good (I'm drinking some right now, in fact). Unfortunately, since it WAS a salvage operation, I did NOT keep track of the sweetner and salt, but just adjusted everything to taste. In addition, since I live in Honduras, sweetners such as the brown rice syrup mentioned by someone else are VERY difficult to get (and expensive if available), so I just used what was on hand: confectioners sugar that I use for baking. Your mileage will certainly vary when you use other sweetners (next time, I may try honey, which IS plentiful here). Whatever you DO add, do so a little at a time: its always possible to add more, but NEVER possible to take it back out! This is especially true on the salt: stop at the point when you think it needs just a little bit more. Sorry I couldnt be of more assistance, but I hope it works out well for you. Remember: with ANYTHING you cook for yourself, YOU are the one who has to eat (or, in this case, drink) it, so adjust it to YOUR
taste, and don't just take anyone elses word for it. As one cookbook I remember from years ago used to say, YOU are the boss in the kitchen!

Archived comment by: labradors

One more question: does anyone have ANY idea the nutritional information for this recipe (without any of the modifications about which we've already posted comments)? In particular, what are the levels of the various vitamins, protein, and calcium?

Archived comment by: labradors

I followed the directions excacly and after several hours I just wound up with a bowl full of lima bean tasting green water. I tried adding vanilla and even almond extract, but nothing could mask that bean taste. I think I'll stick to my rice milk.

Archived comment by: ambertx90

Labradors - try http://www.qtessencesoymilkmaker.com/soymilk.html for a nutritional analysis of homemade soy milk. -- ambertx90 - It sounds like you started with edamime; try using dried, not roasted, yellow soybeans next time! You can get them from natural foods stores or oriental groceries. -- kreiber -- homemade soymilk will stay fresh for 4 to 7 days, depending on the temperature in your fridge. -- Erin -- to reduce the beany flavor, cook the whole soybeans to at least 80 degrees C first. This deactivates the enzyme responsible for the beany flavor. When you grind first, the enzyme starts right up before the heat deactivates it. See the sidebar at http://www.qtessencesoymilkmaker.com/index.html.

Archived comment by: blacklab

blacklab - Excellent info. I'm about to make another batch, and will try heating the beans first. Any particular amount of time, or just need to get them to that temp? ambertx90 - As my fellow lab mentioned, if what you had was green, you had fresh (or frozen) soy beans (edamame in Japanese). For the milk, use dried soy beans. The edamame, on the other hand, are absolutely delicious when parboiled in some salted water then allowed to cool. Use them as a salad garnish, or just straight-up (the way I like them).

Archived comment by: labradors

Here is a recipe for milk from an old vegan book I have. Soak one pound of soybeans overnight in lots of water. Wash thoroughly, cover with fresh water and bring to boil. Change the water a few times to rid the beany taste. Drain and grind. Put in a fine cheescloth bag and tie the top securely. Put the bag of soybeans in a large dish or pail, Pour two quarts of warm water over it and knead the bag well, washing and squeezing the milk outpour off into great big pot. Pour on two more quarts- knead and squeeze out again, pour into pot with 1st two quarts and boil 20 minutes-stirring constantly. Sweeten with malt honey. I want to try this some day, if anyone tries it, let me know what you think.

Archived comment by: qwaychou

I have just started as a vegan , I first bought the silk soy plain , I find it has a really beany taste , I tried putting ovaltine in it to get rid of the taste , it helped a bit . So what is better the vanilla ? for putting into cereal .

Archived comment by: marriedmcginnis

I highly recommend buying a Soymilk maker, they are really worth the money, and take far less time. Also, you have to remove the skins from the beans to remove the beany flavour - after they've soaked just rub the beans with your fingers, the skins come right off. Then, fill the bowl with water and stir - the skins will float to the top and you can pour them off.

Archived comment by: kirstenm

Hi! Do you think I could use soy flour for this? or just the beans? since you have to crush the beans and everything. just a que!!!

Archived comment by: little magic hands

i don't know if you could use soy flour. you could try? i have a soymilk maker--it is worth every penny if you drink a lot of soy/rice milk. i tried making ricemilk by hand and it made a huge mess and looked funny.

Archived comment by: baypuppy