I want this soya milk maker!
Well, I read Gorilla say that he makes his own soy milk. That sounds very interesting, nutritious, and delicious! I have a crappy $15 blender from wal-mart. On it's highest setting it's capable of making things chunky... So then I found this....
http://www.ethicaljuicers.co.uk/milkmaking.htm
AND they have a TOFO maker! I drink a lot of soy milk. I've actually acquired the taste, and now I drink close to half a gallon of soy milk a day. But, this is a good bit of money for me too. Do you guys think it would be worth it? What are the full advantages/disadvantages to making your own soy milk? Has anyone else usesd this milk maker? It can also make nut, and rice milks....hmmmm yummy. I could make hemp/soy/almond milk :)
I'm just not sure if it's worth it? Would it really save me a lot of money?
Re: Soya / Soy Milk Makers
Hi,
I'm a newbie to this forum. I've just bought the Soya Fresh digital milk maker, and am in the process of experimenting with various options. I've so far tried dry and soaked soya beans (soaked are definately better), almond and sunflower milks. I am also experiencing the curdling problem with the addition of apple juice concentrate :( (though ordinary apple juice seems OK, but less sweetening). I have found that the addition of a tablespoon of sunflower oil followed by a blend with a hand blender makes the consistency more creamy.
I do find that the stuff settles out/ separates in the fridge or just standing to cool. I read somewhere that you're meant to cool the milk down quickly after making it, and I wonder if this is the reason for the difference in flavour and curdling behaviour with commercial milk? It's a shame that there isn't some kind of readily available natural anticoagulant that can be added....
The problem for me is my kids - they're used to the shop bought stuff, so won't accept home-made unless the flavour and texture is sufficiently similar. I've written to Soya Fresh to ask their advice. Looking at various fora in the States, folks over there are used to commercial soya milk that contains salt, sugar and various other additives, but over here, unsweetend soya milk appears to be made from just water and soya beans - so why the difference between shop-bought and home made?? :confused: I really hope someone can come up with a satisfactory recipe....
Re: Soya / Soy Milk Makers
Welcome to veganforum jpcw :)
The first time I made home made soya milk I spit it out and proceded to pour that batch down the drain. The next time I i used strawberry extract and a few tablespoons of raw sugar ... better, but still really gross. I now use a combination of coconut and strawberry extract, a generous amount of raw sugar, and sometimes maple syrup (a couple table spoons of maple syrup makes a great diffrence) and I would imagine corn syrup, and brown rice syrup would be nice too. I've found that the trickiest part of it is using the right portions of extracts. Too much and it tastes kind of "oily" if that makes sense, too little ant it has a bean taste. I combine straberry and coconut extract to fill about half a teaspoon.
My advice is just to experiment. Think of the money your saving by making your own, you can afford some extracts and maple/brown rice/corn syrup :)
EDIT: I think the strawberry extract only kind I made would have been much better if I had used food coloring.
Re: Soya / Soy Milk Makers
Thanks for the reply Kimba. I'm trying to avoid using sugar/ sucrose based products and artificial additives, hence the use of apple concentrate (fructose), and ideally I'd like to add as little as possible. Also, things like maple syrup can be very expensive to use in a staple food like soya milk. I think there must be more involved in the process rather than adding sweetners to help with the flavour and texture. As I said before, commercially produced milk manages to be made with just water and soya beans and it tastes just fine and doesn't settle out on standing, so there must be some step(s) missing with the home made route.
Re: Soya / Soy Milk Makers
hi jpcw,
i have the same digital machine as you and i'm still not getting very good results from it to be honest. i don't know what shop-bought milk you're used to but the ones i like have a small amount of sunflower oil added i think. i haven't tried adding that to my milk yet but i'll probably give it a go eventually.
mine has been separating quite a bit and i let it cool naturally because i believe putting it in the fridge while still hot would cause the fridge to heat up, thus requiring a lot more electricity to bring the temperature back dwon again. it's apparently a bit of a health risk for the food in the fridge too.
i've stopped using apple juice in it for now as it tasted too appley. i mostly use the milk on cereal so instead of adding sweetener i'm now adding extra dried fruit to my cereal.
Re: Soya / Soy Milk Makers
Quote:
Kim[ba]
The first time I made home made soya milk I spit it out and proceded to pour that batch down the drain. The next time I i used strawberry extract and a few tablespoons of raw sugar ... better, but still really gross. ... My advice is just to experiment. Think of the money your saving by making your own, you can afford some extracts and maple/brown rice/corn syrup :)
Think of all the expense of buying a soymilk maker, ingredients, including the finished product that you tip down the sink, and the extracts that you have to buy to cover up the nauseating taste! Just do what I do, and buy a carton of Vitasoy every now and then. After all, how much soymilk can you drink? In other words, I really don't think you're saving money at all, as you suggest.
Re: Soya / Soy Milk Makers
Actually, shop-bought soya milk is one of the most expensive items we buy - we get through easily 12-14 1 litre cartons a week as a family and we tend to buy around 30 at at time to save frequent trips to the shop. At a minimum of 65p per carton (~$1.15) but as much as £1.20 (~$2.15) for some brands, this mounts up fairly seriously, so a soya maker for £50 will pay for itself within around 8 weeks, especially if you can find a cheap source of soya beans. However, I do take your point about taste - which is partly why I am experimenting at the moment before unleashing it on my kids :rolleyes:.
Re: Soya / Soy Milk Makers
Hi jpcw
I've got the same problem with my kids..now they only like the Alpro fresh soyamilk, which we tried when it was on special offer and now they're addicted and don't like anything else, and it's £1.27 a litre.
I've made soyamilk myself, but I know they won't like home-made because it tastes more 'beany'. That's the trouble. If they'd been brought up on home-made stuff, they wouldn't know any different, but the Alpro stuff is so delicious, even people who don't usually like soya milk will drink it...like my mum.
Tofu Monster...
I've started making tofu regularly now, it comes out less dense than cauldron foods stuff, but you can still fry it if you're careful. And it's great for blended things, like tofu cheesecake and mayonnaise. It's especially good because it's so cheap. My partner made a big pressing box, and we make about 2lbs (four ordinary-sized blocks) of tofu in one go...but it all gets eaten up far too quickly!
You need an extra-large pan to do this, though.
Re: Soya / Soy Milk Makers
i bought one of the original milk makers from 'soya fresh', that gorilla had one too - and after many, many attempts at getting a 'right recipe' its now just sitting in the cupboard. if i make a batch then it curdles, no soy milk till i can wash up and make some more. sorry to sound defeatest but i just dont have time and energy to keep trying to keep pouring it down the chute. its either too bitter, too appley, curdles, too sweet.
at the moment its easier for me to buy (cant remember the brand) red box, unsweetened with added calcium and vits, bout 79p per ltr from asda - easier on my time and patience more to the point.
so.....i have a milk maker if anyone wants to have a go and make me an offer for it... :rolleyes:
Re: Soya / Soy Milk Makers
Please don't shoot me for this but I really like the ASDA organic SOYA milk and I am not a fan of the sweetened stuff so it's costing me 65p a litre and in our house we get through 24 cartons a month so I need to buy for value as well.
I was going to buy the digital soy fresh machine but I must be truthful I do not have the time or outright cash to buy one at present and I need to know 100% that its going to do what it says on the tin with no fuss or farting about for hours trying to get it right.
I am only home at weekends and Tuesday nights so I like to make the most of my free time. The storys of misshaps have put me off a bit.
Re: Soya / Soy Milk Makers
Tesco 'value' soya milk is actually organic, although they don't make a big fuss about it on the carton, and it's 65p litre too. I use it for cooking, but since having the Alpro fresh stuff, my kids turn up their noses at everything else for using on cereal :(
Making tofu takes about 1-2 hours, so it is something you have to set time aside for, but it's very satisfying...although there are lots of 'wrinkles', like exactly how much nigari to add, how hot the soymilk is, etc.
I don't use one of those milk makers, just a blender, and I filter the milk through a fine-meshed cloth.
I've been making hempseed milk a lot recently, because it's SO GOOD for you, with a perfect balance of omega fatty acids and proteins, but that tends to curdle if I heat it up too much...I still drink it, though! I couldn't waste it!
Re: Soya / Soy Milk Makers
I just found the following snippit on a website:
"It is very important to boil (bleach) soya beans before grinding, to prevent formation of beany flavour."
Whether they mean bleach or blanch is not clear, but this might be worth a shot, although of course it takes the whole 20 minute convenience away and contradicts the instructions with the machine.
Also found this:
"Heating the soya beans will destroy enzymes which are responsible for
the development of beany flavour. This heating can best be achieved by
microwaving the wet soaked soya beans during 2 minutes."
Microwaving might destroy a lot of the goodness in the beans though....
We also used to buy the Tesco and the Granose milk from Asda, which are both perfectly acceptable, but look at the economics: 24 litres / month (in my household, double this) x 12 months x 65p = £187.20 per annum (or ~£375 in my case), just for milk!
I have to say, so far the most successful milk I've made is almond milk - very tasty :p but expensive :( .
Regarding settling, I wonder if the way to do it is to let the stuff settle in the fridge overnight and then decant the top layer of liquid off - the chances of further settling before use are then minimal and it might lead to a lower propensity to curdle when adding sweetners or using in hot drinks. I also wondered whether the UHT process used for commercial soya milk could be the reason for the different flavour and physical behaviour - any food scientists out there?
Re: Soya / Soy Milk Makers
Re: Soya / Soy Milk Makers
Cheers for those links very handy info :D
Re: Soya / Soy Milk Makers
BTW, if anyone does want to buy a soya milk maker, Energise for Life have got them with 10% off, and you get an additional 10% off if it's your first order (which is where I got mine for just over £50 incl delivery!):
http://www.energiseforlife.com/item-...--JBP0008.html
:D
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update: huh! just got home and a second package was waiting for me containing 'filter cup B' for nuts and beans other than soya - how weird to have it sent separately. If you buy one, make sure you get this second filter included!
Re: Soya / Soy Milk Makers
Quote:
jpcw
Actually, shop-bought soya milk is one of the most expensive items we buy - we get through easily 12-14 1 litre cartons a week as a family ... However, I do take your point about taste - which is partly why I am experimenting at the moment before unleashing it on my kids.
Good grief, 12 litres of soymilk a week as a family - how large must your family be? Or do you drink soymilk at every mealtime? Phew! :)
Re: Soya / Soy Milk Makers
Well Eve, there's four of us, but both children drink two cups a day each (= 1 litre), we all eat porridge made with diluted milk every week day (=~250ml), my wife and I drink it in tea/ hot chocolate/ Nocaf (~100-200ml/day), and then at the weekends we tend to use more for things like baking and pancakes etc. OK, maybe we have a somewhat extravagant lifestyle, and we could consume less, but I still regard it as a staple food, and it soon racks up!
Re: Soya / Soy Milk Makers
Thanks a lot for the interesting links!
Re: Soya / Soy Milk Makers
Well folks, I think I've had at least partial success :)
I made some soya milk last night, put it in the fridge over night, and this morning tried it, and I honestly can barely tell the difference between shop bought unsweetened and the machine milk. What have I been doing?
Well, taking various snippits of advice, I have been adding a teaspoon of bicarbonate of soda to the soaking water for the beans, and then doing the 2 minute microwave trick just before processing.
Now the downside - because the beans become partially cooked by microwaving, the chopper grinds them so fine that most of the sediment gets through the filter. So you end up with a fair bit of sludge at the bottom of your coffee/ tea mug :( . However, I've ordered a reuseable coffee filter which I'm going to use to strain the dregs out when I transfer from the machine's jug to the fridge jug, so this should take out the 'fines'. Aternatively, you could use a jelly bag or if you can find one, and ultra fine sieve.
The only other thing I've experienced so far of worry is the machine seems to occassionally go on grinding without stopping (this has happened twice) and so I've had to pull the plug :confused: . I don't know if this is a fault, or whether it's because there isn't enough resistence because of using partially cooked beans, but I might contact Living Earth to see if they have a clue. Has anyone else experienced this?