Homemade Organic Soymilk
When I decide to do a food experiment, I’m pretty good at predicting how the final product will turn out. I’ve been thinking about making my own soymilk for a while now, even though I was pretty sure I wasn’t going to like the end result. So I spent some time looking for tips on how to make the best tasting soymilk at home. With those tricks up my sleeve, I started soaking the beans last night and crossed my fingers, hoping my initial prediction would be wrong.
But I was right. As pretty as my soymilk is, I wouldn’t drink a glass if you paid me.
Now, it’s not terrible. It’s not even bad. It’s just different. I was REALLY hoping I’d be all “homemade soymilk tastes better!” and “commercial soymilk sucks!” but sadly, my palate is keenly attuned to Silk brand soymilk, which has been processed and messed with to such a degree that I think it might be impossible to replicate it at home.
It bums me out that I like commercial stuff better, but them’s the breaks.
Usually I don’t share recipes on my blog that I don’t approve of (on the rare occasions that I do, I’m not shy about saying so), but I think the process of making soymilk is interesting. I thought you might like to see how you can make it at home without a fancy $100 machine. I hear the machines are great, mind you, but if you’re considering buying one you should definitely give this a go before you invest in one to make sure you’ll like the taste.
And just because I don’t like the taste of homemade soymilk, it doesn’t mean you won’t. It’s… beany. And… well? Beany is the best word for it. I’m also hoping that someone who makes tasty soymilk at home all the time will read this, discover a flaw in my recipe or technique, and give me the secret to tasty soymilk. This was my first time making it, afterall, so it’s possible the I just screwed the whole thing up.
Soaking the beans
Right. So the first thing you’ll need is organic dried soybeans. I hear there’s a particular variety called Laura soybeans that have a better taste, but they’re expensive and only available online. I picked mine up at my local grocery store in the bulk section. The night before you make your soymilk, soak the beans in a large amount of cool water overnight.
It’s amazing how much water these babies soak up, so give them ample space to expand. If you’re going to soak them for more than 8-10 hours, soak ‘em in the refrigerator. They’ll keep refrigerated for a few days, just change the water whenever you think of it. (At left: dry vs. soaked)
Removng the Skins
I read that you can reduce the beany taste of your soymilk by removing the skins before blending them with water. They were supposed to “slip right off” after soaking, but mine required a fair amount of agitation to remove. I ended up scrubbing them mercilessly between my palms, like I was washing the plague off my hands, but, you know, with soybeans instead of soap. After about 10 minutes I gave up.
After removal, the skins were also supposed to float to the top of the water for easy scooping, but mine didn’t seem to be all that buoyant. To separate them from the beans, I ran the faucet at full-tilt into the large pot the beans were in, so that the overflowing water would carry the skins with it. That worked alright, but I did need to use a slotted spoon to help the process along. I think I removed just over a cup of skins, and I’m sure I didn’t get all of them. Below is a bowl full of throughly abused soybeans.
Blending the Beans
Now it’s time for blending. I have a crazy Vita-Mix blender, which pulverizes anything in its path. I think that a regular blender will work fine for this. Your okara (the bean pulp, more on that in a second) might not be as fine, but that probably makes for easier straining. You’ll need to blend in batches:
1 Batch, for 1+ Cup Finished Soymilk*:
1 Cup Soaked, Skinned Soybeans
3 1/2 Cups Water
Let your blender run for at least two minutes. You want to make the mixture as smooth as possible. If your blender won’t fit the batches as measured above you can blend less, but keep the proportions of beans:water the same. I made two batches.
*It’s possible I over-reduced my soymilk by simmering it too long and/or failing to use a lid, which may be why the flavor is so intense. Boil yours with a lid for a higher yield.
Straining
Strain your blended soymilk into a large bowl. I used a nutmilk bag, which is essentially a fine mesh bag with drawstring that strains out even the even very tiny particulate. If you don’t have a nutmik bag, use several layers of cheesecloth, or a very fine chinois strainer. You can not over-strain your soymilk.
Really. I strained mine five times: three times before cooking and twice after it was finished and cooled.
The pulp leftover from straining is called okara. There are many recipes that call for okara, so save it to use later. Keep in mind, though, that many recipes call for okara that comes out of soymilk machines, which is cooked okara. This okara is raw and REQUIRES cooking of some sort to break down/neutralize nasty enzymes that we humans can’t digest very well. I think I’m going to try Susan V’s Okara “Crab” Cakes, myself!
Boiling the Milk
Bring your strained soymik to a boil. Once it’s simmering, cook it for 20-30 minutes. While it’s cooking, yuba (a skin) will form on top. Skim it, and any foam, off. Yuba is edible, an a lot of people really enjoy it, so check out recipes for that, too!
Flavoring, Cooling and Storing
At the end of cooking, flavor your soymilk. I added a pinch of salt and a scant tablespoon of sugar. Add a little bit at a time and taste it as you go until you reach the flavor you like the best. Transfer it to the refrigerator and cool. After cooling, I strained mine again to remove any extra yuba that had formed, and removed even more particulate that had settled at the bottom. Your soymilk should last about a week in the fridge. Glass containers with lids are best
Final Thoughts
I’m pissed that I don’t like it more, but it was a neat project. It was only recently that I realized it was even possible to make soymilk at home. I think I’ll stick to buying mine. I’ve had great success making nutmilks at home (specifically almond milk), and they’re not only easier to make but really, really tasty to boot. If I try to make soymilk again, I might add rice, or oats, which I hear helps the reduce the beany flavor, but other than that, I’m not sure how much more palatable I can make it.
Soymilk experts, any advice?
This is one recipe on your site, that since I’ve been subscribed, I’ve actually made, prior you posting an entry. I have to say I like homemade soy milk more than store bought soy milk. :)
I found the Laura beans to be better, but in the end, I feel like you do. Even with the Lauras, the taste is just too beany. I feel like a failure of a foodie.
ohhhh I love homemade milks :) yay for soy milk.
Ok, i’m new to your blog, do you have a cookbook yet? I would love to buy it! I noticed you don’t post all of your recipes so if there is a book, let me at it :)
oh and i add a touch of vanilla extract and maple syrup to mine :)
I do have a soy milk maker, and I agree the taste is quite a bit different than commercial milks. I don’t really like any of them to drink, though. I don’t really get why you’d want to drink it, but that’s probably just me. (I never drank cow’s milk either, before I was vegan.) I do cook with soy milk, though. What I do love is making my own tofu from fresh soy milk. Which, of course, you can do without a machine, too, but it does make it really easy. Either way, it makes tofu really cheap.
The first batch I ever made was really bad too. The second batch was better. I did a few things differently:
- boiled the skinned beans with some baking soda, then drained and rinsed, twice
- blended with boiling water
- cooked it longer, can’t remember if that was before or after straining though.
Did you add sugar and vanilla? some recipes mention a tiny bit of salt.
Anyway, the second batch was drinkable (I had to throw out the first) but I still didn’t like it as much as So Nice, so I haven’t made a third.
I know nothing about making soymilk. But I do love the black, turquoise, and white colors in your photos! Very nice.
fyi: Silk is owned by Dean Foods.
I love unsweetened, plain soy milk so I bought a machine as soon as I found one for $75. I’ve never made it by hand before, so I don’t have anything to compare it to, but the machine is pretty darn easy. The hardest part is cleaning it after I’ve made the soy milk.
The trick to enjoying soy milk is to not think of it as a milk substitute. You can even think of it as bean juice if you want. I like the flavor of the beans, but soy milk tastes best when it’s still hot, fresh from the soy milk maker. It doesn’t taste too soy-like then.
i’ve only made homemade soymilk once, and i couldn’t get past the beany taste either (i much prefer making rice or nut milks). actually i’m not a big fan of soymilk anymore, because it always does weird things like curdle in my coffee, and silk (my former favorite brand) started giving me stomachaches – probably from all the processing.
i have heard, however, that soaking your beans in a wide, shallow container is a hoaxy-sounding but apparently effective method for reducing the beany taste. if you try it again, that might be something to think of.
Silk uses a special variety of soybeans and uses steam to extract the milk rather than boiling water. I’m not sure if there’s a way to duplicate this at home.
Thanks for sharing your recipe/process even though you didn’t like the results: it’s something I want to try some day, and I’m sure I’ll like homemade soymilk better than most commercial ones.
Actually, the soymilk brand I buy – Natur-a (http://www.nutrisoya.com/) – has an unsweetened and unflavored version, and this is the one I like best. I usually prefer getting used to the real taste of food, and I also think that this one is much more versatile for cooking. When there aren’t any left at the grocery store, I buy the So Nice unsweetened version, but it’s flavored with vanilla, and that drives me crazy: how am I supposed to cook a bechamel with stuff like that? I’ve only tried Silk once, and you’ve probably guessed that I hated it: too strongly flavoured, and way too sweet for my taste! That’s why I know homemade soymilk may well be for me… so I really appreciate that you shared your experiment here.
Sorry about that too long comment, and thanks again!
I started making soymilk in the seventies, using the Laurel’s Kitchen Cookbook. Their method is to use boiling water in the blender to grind the beans. This gives the soymilk a less beany taste. I think it’s pretty good. The book says, “Soymilk can have a bitter beany taste, the result of an enzyme (lipoxygenase…) that goes into action when the bean is broken in the presence of air and water. Scientists aat Cornell University developed a way to inactivate the lipoxidase….The secret of the Cornell process is to grind the beans in hot water, at least 180 degrees, which inactivates the lipoxidase….This boiling water grind process yields a soymilk that is bland and pleasant tasting.” I took this from The New Laurel’s Kitchen, by Laurel Robertson, Carol Flinders, and Brian Ruppenthal. Check it out.
I find it surprising that you like Silk brand better, because I grew up drinking home-made soy milk, with just rock sugar added in. Silk has so much vanilla and other things in it, that it doesn’t taste like the sort of pure soy milk I grew up drinking. (Not to mention the consistency is completely wrong.)
My parents make it pretty much the way you did: boil the soy, blend it up, strain, and serve. I love the natural nutty flavor that’s lost in Silk.
I really like that you include extra photos in your recipe, like the before and after beans. I’m hooked on this one brand of soymilk by eden foods, called eden soy organic rice and soy milk. it’s a blend of rice milk and soy milk, with some kombu seaweed and carrageenan.
I can’t wait to try this recipe, I’d definitely want a nut bag to strain it and maybe some brown rice syrup.
My mom makes homemade soymilk occasionaly.
Yeah compared to store bought, there is a big difference.
The beany flavor is a lot like Chinese soymilk.
Also, my mom adds a lot of sugar.
Which offsets the beany/bitter taste I believe.
And keep up the blogging!
My mom made soymilk to make tofu when I was little and you couldn’t find soy products easily in France.
We never tried to drink it, though, but the tofu was delicious…
Now I use a french organic brand and I think it’s even cheaper to buy it than to make it, if you count the time and the price of energy.
I tried to make some soymilk once and I used depeliculated soy beans because I couldn’t find anything else, it’s easier too I suppose.
I recently had homemade soy milk made with a machine and I thought it tasted very similar to store-bought soymilk. Then again, I prefer unsweetened soy milk, so that might’ve been a factor in my enjoyment.
Part of your distaste may simply be from not being used to the homemade. We got a Soyabella not quite a month ago and we’ve been experimenting with filtering and with the amount of sugar – for us, 1 1/2 tablespoons of sugar and just a pinch of salt, plus a 2nd straining through a coffee filter (I need to look for a nut bag!) really works. While the first batches were more beany tasting, I found that I got used to the flavor quickly. We haven’t bought Silk soymilk for a month, and I’m just fine with that.
What a GREAT idea! I am totally trying this! Thank you!
I never liked the flavor of Silk; too sweet and thick. I bought a Soyabella about a year ago and love it. The worst part of making soy milk in it is the clean up. I saved the okara and made Susan V’s Crab Cakes and was not impressed. Also, we no longer put the okara in our compost because it really makes it smell. I also add a little agave and salt to it and don’t even strain it again. I actually prefer almond milk, though, in the Soyabella. Could not be easier and either one of these will use a lot less energy and time than your posted method. The Soyabella paid for itself in no time!
I bought a soy milk maker this year and at first I was also put off by the strong soy taste of the milk. I then tried making Bryanna’s soy and rice milk (recipe here http://www.bryannaclarkgrogan.com/page/page/638376.htm), which I found much more palatable. After several batches of soy and rice milk, I tried soy-only milk again and loved it! So it didn’t take particularly long for my tastes to change.
Another thing to note is that it’s possible that you just don’t like the particular beans you bought. I first bought organic beans from a health food store — no clue what country they were from. Then, when I found I was making a lot of soy milk, I found an organic farm in London, Ontario that was growing them and bought some from there. The soy milk from those beans tastes significantly different — I think I prefer it.
Anyway, my 2 cents is to keep on trying!
My decision to go vegan was really so hard for me…not because I knew it was best for my body, the environment etc….but because I HATE HATE HATE soymilk. Until I tried Vitasoy Organic Creamy Original. It tastes so much like regular milk to me. LOVE.
I really like So Nice’s unsweetened soy milk and even drink it straight up. I think if you add a vanilla bean or 2 to the boiling process and some sugar it might just be awesome! I am going to try this next time I see bulk soybeans.
aw!
that’s so cool! I totally want to try this soon.
Reading your blog makes me wish I could spend a couple days a week not working and just stay home and cook! (Ok, and that I had someone else to do the dishes, b/c that’s my second obstacle to copious amounts of home-cooking!)
For those who want to try the taste of homemade soy milk before attempting at home, I suggest that you go to a Chinese supermarket. Soy milk has always been a big part of the food culture (mainly a breakfast food). The Chinese serve it hot or cold, salty or sweet. I prefer hot and sweet! If you like the homemade Chinese soy milk and want to make it yourself, then I also suggest you buy the soybeans at the Chinese market…it will cost way less than what you’ll find at Whole Foods and the like.
what about adding just a touch of vanilla extract?? my favorite soy milk is west soy unsweetened vanilla; the vanilla flavor is not strong but its just enough to give the milk a little umph with out any added sweeteners.
It sounds like it was quite an adventure by itself! At least you won’t live with the doubt that you might like homemade soymilk…
I haven’t tried doing this yet so I can’t promise it works but I might have found a solution for the beany taste:
http://www.soya.be/how-to-make-soy-milk.php
“Step3: Heating the soya beans (optional)
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.”
I find this a very informative site about all things soy. Hopefully this tip works! :)
I am another happy Soyabella user. It’s quick – especially since my man makes it for me – and he experimented to find a way to make it taste super nice with barley malt, sugar, vanilla, and salt. Whenever we run out and I have to use an emergency carton of my previously-beloved Pacific soy, I’m grossed out by how sweet and fake-tasting it is.
I have tried making soymilk at home. Yes, its beany. Takes time and leaves a sink load of dirty dishes. But, the okara(pulp) tasted great in tikkis(similar to crab cakes).
Indira has detailed posts on this
http://www.nandyala.org/mahanandi/archives/2006/06/23/
http://www.nandyala.org/mahanandi/archives/2007/07/18/vegetarian-congee-with-rosematta-and-yuba/
I make my own soymilk every week, but to make it taste right I include some of the following besides the soybeans:
* raw cashews
* brown rice
(and after straining:)
* maple syrup or agave
* vanilla
* salt
It works great for me!
I make my own soy milk (with a machine) every two days. My food blog is centered around using all the okara: http://www.okaramountain.blogspot.com
I bought a machine for economic reasons. I estimated that it costs me less than 20 cents a quart to make it. Some pointers:
Make sure your soybeans are not old. Buy them from a place that has high turnover.
I add 2 tablespoons of raw oats to each batch of soybeans before processing (makes it creamier).
After processing, I run it through a “gold” coffee filter to get rid of all the residue. Works fantastic!
I do not bother taking the skins off as I did not notice one bit of difference in the taste. And it is a real pain.
I add salt, vanilla and some kind of sweetener (honey, sugar, natural cane sugar, or brown rice syrup)
Let the soy milk cool COMPLETELY before covering it and refrigerating it. This will make a difference in the beany taste.
Storing it in a glass container will make it taste the best.
It will taste different than the store brands, but you do get used to it quite quickly. By my third batch, I was hooked.
You should really do something like almond milk or sunflower seed milk. It’s much easier (no boiling) and faster (no boiling).
When I lived in Vietnam last year, we made soymilk nearly every day. We drank it sweetened, and warm, partly because there was no refrigeration. Two things. You don’t have to reduce the milk. You are heating it to aid digestion. Once we heated it , we immediately put it in a large thermos, and left it for an hour. It is this heating process which helps with the flavour. Also, when squeezing the milk, don’t squeeze the bag very tightly. Doing this will contribute to the very beany taste. Squeezing very, very gently gives a wonderful tasting milk.
what a cool project. i love the taste of Silk too, but I recently learned that the company is owned by Dean Foods, a huge dairy conglomerate. boo urns. Just thought I’d let you know, if it makes a difference to you.
My fave soy milk now is vitasoy creamy original. yummm. i buy natura too.
I know there’s a LOT of comments but thought I’d add my 2 cents because I prefer homemade soymilk over the processed expensive stuff. Some differences in my method are:
I soak the beans in the fridge overnight.
I strain the beans, rinse, then blend the beans (skin and all) with boiling (or really hot) water.
I take that mixture and put it in a stockpot (twice the volume of the liquid) and you need to bring it to a boil, stir, add cold water when it foams over, THEN when it finally boils like a normal liquid and not like a foam volcano, I boil it for 10 minutes.
Then I strain it once.
The I mix the okara with more hot water and strain it again.
Sweetener and a bit of vanilla and that’s it.
I don’t put a lid on the pot and I’ve made soymilk a lot and found this method foolproof. It still is beany, but to me that’s what soymilk tastes like. I LOVE the beany taste. When I was in Peru, you could only get fresh homemade soymilk in the smallest towns (a pint for 15 cents) and they add cinnamon to it. I should try to photo document my soymilk making one of these days, but yours is SO beautiful.
Heey!
After reading your post, I was inspired to try myself.. :]
This was my first time trying to make soya milk too, so I’m definitely not an expert! But I made some yesterday and here’s what I thought…
The final milk came out pretty good… I think it tasted nice and it wasn’t too beany, in my opinion.. but I normally don’t drink it by it’s self, and only have it over cereal or use it in cooking.
Anyway,
I used 125g of beans, soaking them overnight for about 10-16 hours… and the things I did differently to you were:
1. I boiled them for about 30 seconds or so with baking soda, then rinsed and skinned, then boiled for another 30 seconds in just water, then rinsed agaain. (getting the skins off took forever!)
2. I blended them with about 1 litre of hot water, adding a little at a time.
3. Strained it, then brought it to the boil and then simmered for probably about 10-15 minutes. Also, I stirred it continuously, not wanting yuba to form, because I’ve heard that it contains lots of the goodness and fat in the milk, so if you remove it, then you’re getting rid of that nice stuff, which, I guess, would make a less tasty soya milk?
4. At the cooking stage I also added about 2 teaspoons of raw cane granulated sugar, a tiny pinch of salt and about 1/4 to 1/2 a teaspoon of vanilla essence.
5. Then I put it in a glass bottle and tried to cool it down as quickly as possible, by putting the bottle in a bowl full of water and ice-cubes. (I’ve read that this, too, reduces the beany taste).
I refrigerated it overnight and had it on cereal today!
The only real disappointing thing was that the milk was a bit too thin.. Shop brought stuff always seems to be thicker and creamer. I wasn’t bad though.
I wondering how I could make it thicker/creamer now.. Any ideas? What was yours like?
I am going to try again sometime, and try to speed up the hulling process!
Ahh, sorry! That went on a bit! I’ll stop rambling now.
Btw, I am in absolute awe of your site. It’s amazing. Your recipes, photographs and writing are all fantastic!
I’m always checking to see if you’ve posted a new recipe or something!
Definitely one of my favourite website.
Keep it up! ^_^
(Waay too long a reply.. it probably didn’t all make sense!)
Hi Lauren,
I followed your recipe, only using very hot water to blend the beans, and I was 100% happy with the results. I drank a glass of cold soy milk with some whole-wheat cookies, and it was delicious. The difference is that I have never tasted Silk, I think it’s too processed. So maybe you’ll find homemade soymilk tasty when you get used to it. Thanks for the recipe, and good luck with the next batch!
Julieta, Mexico.
im freaking impressed that you even attempted to make your own soy milk…. and nut milks wow
Wow, there’s a lot of comments on this topic! I’ve been considering trying this at home too, but it may be really hard to even find dried soybeans where I live (without them being so old that they won’t make a good milk).
I personally can’t stand the taste of Silk, and I’m really suprized when people say they prefer it. I drink So Nice, the unsweetened, original version, but upon someone mentioning here that So Nice original unsweetend is flavoured, I gave the carton a closer read, and realized that they were right. What do you know!
It never occurred to me before that my store-bought soymilk would be highly processed, so I’m really glad for this post, as it just might enable me to cut a little more over-processing out of my diet.
wow awesome!! this post reminds me so much of my childhood where i sat on the kitchen stool watching my mum making soymilk for us on the weekends! :o)
I grew up in a country where ‘fresh’ milk isn’t available (the long life ones taste gross), so I drink homemade soy milk instead, but ever since I moved to Australia, my mum stopped making them :o( so I drink the store bought soy milk instead…and yes, they taste very different! The store bought ones have a processed ‘taste’ to it, but i don’t mind them still…
Haha… i didn’t know that the mushy fibrous ‘poop’ (as me and my brothers call it!) can be turned into such a fabulous dish.. tehee… oh and umm, the floaty stuff on top of soy milk is what dried bean curd is being made out of…awesome huh…
sorry, for the odd comment .. hope you have a great day..keep up with the great recipes!
wow. i’m glad you had the courage and energy to make your own soy milk. i would love to try and do this, but am very deterred by all the variations to making it. thanks for posting your homemade soy milk adventure.
I prefer soymilk from the store (its sweeter and tastes much less “soy”), but my parents always make their own soymilk and they love it!
Beautiful pix as usual – I’m a novice when it comes to making soyamilk so I have no advice to offer, but good for you for giving it a shot!
I tried making soy milk 15 years ago. It was a disaster, wish I had this recipe. Nice pics!
One more thing, I’m hosting the Veg Head carnival at the end of the month, I would love to post thie recipe. Details are in my side bar. I think my readers would love it.
Hello,
I tried home made soy milk, the method I used was slightly different to yours.
I boiled the whole mixture BEFORE straining out the okara, so a process more akin to the one an automed soy milk maker uses.
The other thing that really made a difference would be that I added just a tiny amount of vanilla. I was surprised how this changed the taste.
Hope this helps.