Fast Fridays: Make Your Own Soy Milk

For my birthday, my mom got me a soy milk machine (specifically the SoyaPower Plus), which might seem like an odd present, but for someone like me who grew up on fresh soy milk–a far cry from even the stuff you find in the cold cases in the grocery store–it was a great idea.

In Chinese cuisine, soy milk can be served warm or cold, savory or sweet. It can be a welcome cooling summer beverage, or a sort of hot broth served with condiments on a chilly morning. Fresh soy milk has a bright grassy flavor that’s unique. It’s always been frustrating to me that for many Americans, soy milk is just a substitute for cow’s milk and therefore the natural flavors are considered undesirable. To me, the natural flavors should be part of the experience, just as fresh orange juice or fresh apple juice present a unique, fresh flavor. If you haven’t had fresh soy milk, I highly suggest you run down to your local Asian food market and look for it in the plastic jugs (a la cow’s milk) in the cold cases; I promise it’s different from stuff like Silk or Eden.

Why, you might be asking, is this our Fast Fridays feature? Well, the machine (which can also crank out almond milk, rice milk, and other beverages) takes less than 20 minutes to cook your pre-soaked soy beans and turn them into soy milk. Once it beeps, you simply strain the liquid, let it cool, and pour it into your container. Lucky for me, the bottle above from Ikea is exactly the size of one batch (about a quart). It’s easy-peasy. In my case, I add a little turbinado sugar to it, but you can definitely go plain. Take that soy milk and use it in your cereal, make tofu, make soy yogurt, drink it in your coffee, or just drink it straight like I do. It’s a good source of lean protein, and again, it’s quite refreshing on a hot summer day.

Update: Because of the website reformat, I’ve lost some of the photos on the site including the ones that used to be above.