I’m interested in buying a soy milk machine…probably from Amazon.com, since I have a gift certificate to offset the cost. (Thanks, Coinstar!)
Does anyone have any experience with home soy milk machines? Any features to look for? Tips and tricks? My main goal is to make milk to put in my cereal at breakfast. I like the idea of being able to make it in relatively small batches so it doesn’t spoil before I use it.
I read some reviews and other comments that it’s not as thick as store bought. I’m not sure why that happens, or if it would really matter to me.
I found a few random postings in past threads, but none of them had any traction.
It works very well for me, and being automatic means just putting in the dried beans and water and turning it on. I do find that the milk is not as ‘rich’ as store-bought soy milk, so I add at least 50% more beans and use minimum water. After it is done, and before the milk cools, I add a teaspoon or two of sugar and a teaspoon of pure vanilla extract.
The solids from the process, called okara, are plentiful. I put them in a zip-top bag and store them in the freezer. I don’t know what to do with them. I need to find out how to use the okara because it’s very healthy stuff.
I HAD this one, until Hubster made a donation to Salvation Army and took the soymilk machine instead of the bread machine.
I loved it, and I plan on getting another.
The biggest debate between machines is whether or not to soak the beans. With the Soyajoy, you soak them. It’s no big deal. In fact, I’d soak the beans, and then freeze them in batch amounts.
The milk is wonderful. I make a phenomenal chocolate soy milk using Mexican chocolate. Oh MY!
I’d keep the milk in clean one-quart canning jars, and it would last quite a while before spoiling.
The okara is great stuff. If you check out the above website, there is a page of just okara recipes. You can also add it to muffins, bread, meatloaf, and anything else that comes to mind. It’s high fiber and low fat.
If it matters…ease of use (and cleaning) is important to me. The amount of milk made isn’t, since I live alone. And I doubt it comes into play, but being green…not having random throwaway filters, for instance, is definitely important to me.
I was going to ask about the soaking thing. I see some references to it.
If I’m soaking - can I put them in water before I go to work, and then make the milk in the evening so it’s ready for breakfast the next morning?
I also saw a reference to using distilled water by someone. I tend to drink tap water almost everywhere I go in the USA, even when others say it tastes bad. It just doesn’t effect me. Any reason not to try tap water with these?
I use tap water. The water here happens to be very, very tasty right out of the tap.
The maker I use came with a plastic pitcher with a detachable handle that fits inside of the machine for storage. It also came with a measuring cup for the beans; but as I said, you’ll probably want to add more beans. IIRC, the cup measures about 70 g. I like at least 100 g. The machine came with a metal strainer (a very shallow sieve), so there are no filters to throw away. There’s also a scrub pad and a brush, but I’ve never used them.
Clean-up is pretty easy. There are some bits of okara that like to stick to the stainless steel vessel, so I take care to wash thoroughly. A perforated canister fits at the bottom of the machine, and it’s easy to clean. The uprights (heating elements) clean nicely with a soapy Dobie pad. The one place you want to be careful of is the chopping blades. They’re sharp. So just be careful, as if you’re cleaning a food processor or blender. Everything stores within the vessel when not in use, which I like.
I’ve never soaked my beans. I just put them in dry.
BY ALL MEANS: clean the okara out of the filter basket and from the heating elements and the blade IMMEDIATELY after using the machine.
Once that stuff dries, it turns to concrete.
In my old Soyajoy, the heating element and the blade were attached to the head of the machine. Those parts had to be cleaned by hand. The filter basket and the pitcher can be washed in the dishwasher. But clean the okara off the filter basket FIRST before placing in the dishwashser, otherwise you’ll end up with a filter plugged with REALLY CLEAN crud.
That Mexican chocolate soymilk I made was SOOOOOOOOOOOOOo good!
~VOW
I put the beans to soak when I go to bed, and then make the milk in the morning so I can have the tofu ready by supper time. I strain out the solids, and immediately wash everything, and toss the solids out for the chickens. I then add the chemical that precipitates out the protein and strain it and pop it into a tofu press. The instruction book that came with it has great directions on making soy, nut, rice milks and other recipe suggestions.
I also have a SoyaJoy (soymilkmaker.com). I’ve had it for 10 years, without any problems. I’ve made Soy, Almond, and Rice milk with it. Soy beans you want to soak for 6-8 hours. Rice can be on the shorter side, like 4-6 hours. I haven’t done much experimenting with Almond (don’t care for the milk much), but for the others, you should be fine setting them soaking the morning and making the milk when you get home. I’ve soaked rice and soy for almost 24-hours in the past (forgot until the next morning), and they still work fine - you’ll just get a little thicker milk. I have a good faucet water filter, so I always use filtered water. I can’t imagine the extra Chlorine or organic solids would make it taste any better… oh, and a cycle only takes about 15 minutes! And I’d agree to clean the machine, basket and pitcher immediately. It doesn’t get any easier then right away!
A friend of FB suggested that I buy some soy milk from my local Asian grocer, because it’s much closer to what you get out of a machine.
Any opinions on that? I’m fine with buying some and checking it out, but only if it’s actually representative.
I notice that the Joyoung is $100.
The SoyaJoy is $110.
The Soyquick is $180.
Aruvqan (or others), any idea if the extra $70 or so is worth it? I know it’s hard to compare with something you don’t have…but I thought I’d ask anyway
Thanks again.
I have never hear of home made soy milk. Where do you get the soy beans? Are they found in normal supermarkets, I have not noticed them but there is a lot of stuff I don’t look for in the market.
While you are at the Asian grocer getting your soymilk, check out the rest of the goods for sale. I LOVE going to an Asian market! The spices are a HELLUVA lot cheaper than what you’d find anywhere else, and the dried mushrooms are a huge bargain, as well!
~VOW
Man, I haven’t had fresh soy milk from an Asian market in close to ten years! Little Saigon is a bit far away nowadays. Fresh, hot, and a dollar a quart.
You can probably find dried soy beans in the dried bean section of a well-stocked supermarket. I get mine at Community Food Co-Op, myself.
My Asian grocer has large bags of beans. I imagine Whole Foods type markets have them also, but I haven’t checked.
Yep. I need to go there sometime when they aren’t busy so one of the workers can show me around, though. I don’t know what most of the stuff I’m looking at is. I buy my green tea (loose leaf, of course) there…and I just picked up a set of reusable chopsticks. (I’m probably going to upgrade those to a set my friend designed and is on Amazon now.)
I’d love to experiment with more of the stuff there…if only I knew what it was. :smack:
I used to use organic bulk dried soy beans from Whole Foods, and it was literally pennies per cup. Since I’ve switched to rice, I use 2/3 of a cup of dried rice each cycle, and it makes two large bell jars worth of milk. compared to what they’re charging in stores, the machine pays for itself fairly quickly if you already purchase soy/rice/nut milks.
I just put in my order for a Soyajoy G3, on the strength of a 2-1-1 vote, and being the middle price of the three being discussed. Amazon claims I should get it by the 22nd or 23rd.
I’ll be at the grocery store tomorrow, getting hopefully my last batch of commercial soy milk.
Now…on to the Tofu questions…for you tofu makers, what do you use as a coagulant? I’ve seen references to using nigari, calcium sulfate, or the standard kitchen acids like lemon juice or vinegar.
I hear that I can make my first batch with just a cheese cloth and a colander, before I invest in a tofu box…I’ll probably do that, just as a test.
-D/a
Maybe if I used a lot of tofu, I’d make it regularly. But the way I see it, homemade soymilk is already a bit of work. Then to turn around and work even harder to make the tofu…IIRC, it takes two or three batches of milk from the Soyajoy to make a block of tofu the size of the ones you see in the refrigerated section of the grocery store.
Yeah…the recipes I’ve seen call for two batches of soy milk.
If I can do it with one, I’d be ok - I’m single, live alone, and cook for myself a lot.
I don’t need that much tofu to have a meal.
I don’t think I’d do it all the time, but I do like to do things from scratch - I make my own mozzarella sometimes, for instance. I’d like to add it to my bag of tricks, but I agree that I might not do it too often.
I can make a double batch of soymilk in my pot, and since most of the work involves putting the beans in water, and plugging it in and hanging out watching TV while it processes, I am puzzled by the accusations of hard work.
I use nigiri that I bought off Amazon, and a tofu press I likewise bought off Amazon. Premeasured packets instead of the bulk also offered.
