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Is anyone making their own soy milk?

Discussion in 'Fred's House of Pancakes' started by viking31, Oct 27, 2007.

  1. viking31

    viking31 Member

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    We go through a lot of soy milk in our family. At $5.00/gallon it is getting pricey. I have seen machines for about $100 to $150 or so which claim to make soy milk in about 15 minutes (after you soak the soy beans overnight) for "pennies a liter".

    They look like automatic bread machines but make soy milk instead.

    Does anyone have one of these machines? Do they work as advertised?

    A quick internet search produced this machine. I am sure there are others out there too.

    Thanks,

    Rick
    #4 2006
     
  2. Godiva

    Godiva AmeriKan Citizen

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    If you do a search for "soy milk maker" on amazon.com you can see models and read reviews.

    The one you chose got four stars. (It's apparently difficult to clean and doesn't make good rice milk.) There's one about the same price called Soyabella that got five stars.
     
  3. moxiequz

    moxiequz Weirdo Social Outcast

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  4. Bob64

    Bob64 Sapphire of the Blue Sky

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    I've seen my parents make soy milk with some sort of white beans, a blender, and a filter, and some sort of cloth that they use to squeeze the juice out.
     
  5. daniel

    daniel Cat Lovers Against the Bomb

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    A friend of mine once taught me how to make tofu. (I'm not sure I still have the instructions, and it was too much bother to ever do it myself.) The process began by making soy milk. We boiled soybeans, ground them up, filtered several times, added the nigari, soaked and drained in a cheesecloth... It was a lot of work and the resulting tofu was almost as good as the stuff we could buy in a store. It was a fun project, the way making paper might be fun. But when it comes time to write a letter, the store-bought paper works better, and the store-bought tofu is better. We did not drink any of the soy milk, as that was just an intermediate step towards tofu. But I'm guessing that it would have been almost as good as the store-bought soy milk, and a lot more work.

    I've never used one of these machines, but I have used other machines claimed to cheaply make some common food item, and they typically are far more work than the savings is worth.

    Anyway, I buy the low-fat or the no-fat soy milk, so the machine would not work for me. Soybeans are actually rather high in fat.
     
  6. yorkeyng

    yorkeyng New Member

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    My mom used to make soy milk with one of these machines (she bought hers from Hong Kong I think) all the time. The thing looked like a bread machine but was super NOISY. The soy milk tasted great, esp if you prefer yours unsweetened or warm. She'd make a big batch, sweeten it just a bit, then put it in the fridge.
     
  7. efusco

    efusco Moderator Emeritus
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    Does anyone out there make their own real milk? At 3 gallons per week it's getting expensive. I saw an ad out there for this device that you put hay into one end and milk comes out one part and waste materials out another. Anyone tried this?
    [​IMG]


    *Not trying to offend anyone, just trying to be a little 'cute' as the idea of making my own soy milk never entered my mind any more than making my own cow's milk.
     
  8. viking31

    viking31 Member

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    <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(efusco @ Oct 29 2007, 09:03 AM) [snapback]531909[/snapback]</div>
    That was good ;-)! I didn't think making soy milk feasible at home could be done either but a quick internet search did turn up machines that do make soy milk. Of course, they espouse it is a simple as a push of a button and you get liters and liters of soy milk for pennies a liter. In reality, there is some prep of the beans (in addition to acquiring them too) and it has been reported the machines can be a real PIA to clean after each use. Then you have to add some sugar, thickeners, etc. to get the soy milk tasting like the store bought variety if desired. Still kinda of on the edge yet as to whether or not to buy a soy machine...

    OTH, further searches have turned up numerous websites (many copied from one another) which purport soy milk to be a virtually poison to the human body. Various naturally occurring chemicals in the soy milk supposedly inhibit the absorption of vital minerals, mimic estrogen, and other various terrible things will happen to you with consumption of soy milk on a regular basis. One website even states it is child abuse to feed an infant soy milk based formula!

    Me thinks these sites are peddling BS (perhaps a disgruntled dairy farmer/coop??) but they have in any case piqued my curiosity.

    So, my question to you Evan is, have you ever come across any pros and cons in your medical training or practice regarding the regular consumption of soy milk?

    Thanks,

    Rick
    #4 2006
     
  9. daniel

    daniel Cat Lovers Against the Bomb

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    <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(efusco @ Oct 29 2007, 06:03 AM) [snapback]531909[/snapback]</div>
    Never had one of my own, but I worked for a guy who did this. The good part is it really works. These things can make excellent quality milk if you have the good kind. The brown ones make better-tasting milk, but it's less healthy, due to the higher fat content. The black and white ones mix less fat into the milk.

    The bad part is that cleaning up afterwards is not only very hard work, but is really disgusting. After the hay has gone through, the stuff that comes out the other end stinks to high heaven, and draws millions of flies, and there is a lot of it. You also need a prodigious quantity of hay, plus lots of straw, and it's more work, seven days a week, than you can imagine.

    I do not recommend one of these for home use.
     
  10. efusco

    efusco Moderator Emeritus
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    While certainly soy based formula is the 3rd choice I'd go to for an infant (behind human and cow's milk) it's certainly a reasonable alternative for them if they can't tolerate the lactose or have another milk allergy.

    Short of that it's not a topic I know a lot about so I'll withhold comment.
     
  11. daniel

    daniel Cat Lovers Against the Bomb

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    <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(viking31 @ Oct 29 2007, 06:27 AM) [snapback]531913[/snapback]</div>
    Milk has its detractors also. It is said to be "unnatural" for humans to drink it. Modern dairy cows (and modern dairy goats too, for that matter) have been bred to produce copious quantities of milk, which is unnatural to their systems, and unless you patronize an organic farm, the cows are fed antibiotics and other chemicals. For infants, mother's milk has antigens which help confer resistance to disease. Cows' milk has antigens to cow disease, and lacks the ones human infants need.

    Personally, I think both cow milk and soy milk taste dreadful. Tolerable on sweetened cereal or with plenty of sweetened chocolate, but by themselves horrid. I use the soy milk because I am lactose intolerant. But I don't use much of it.
     
  12. zenMachine

    zenMachine Just another Onionhead

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    My mom used to make soy milk from soy beans by hand. She also made tofu with some of the milk.
    It's tedious work, but it tastes really good. The bad part is the cleaning up, as someone has said.

    My youngest child is allergic to dairy and soy milk, so we have to give him rice milk instead (essentially
    a rice drink fortified with calcium and vitamins). To keep down the cost, we buy the stuff in bulk at Costco.
    I'd imagine you could do the same for soy milk. Or if you live near a large Asian community, you may be able to get fresh soymilk from their groceries stores...
     
  13. patsparks

    patsparks An Aussie perspective

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    Our cows seem to be fed with grass from the ground mostly and I think the milk they make is great on my morming muslii.
    I never have any trouble cleaning up as I get my milk in a bottle, the 1% fat variety milk.
     
  14. MarinJohn

    MarinJohn Senior Member

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    I've moved from cows milk (contaminated with chemicals like, but not limited to growth hormones) to soy milk to rice milk (tastes a little weak to me) to finally almond milk. I've tried to cut way down on soy (and corn) as in the US they are mostly all GMO products. I object to GMO on two levels...I don't feel it has been adequately tested on humans. (It's outlawed in most European countries while they await the results of the national testing on US citizens) and also on principal since companies pushed GMO-tainted product approval through congress without adequate testing, all for the sake of short term profit. They also sue small-time farmers in whose fields GMO product is found to have drifted into, whereas it seems to me that the law suit should be the other way around since it's the GMO product invading/polluting other non-GMO farms. Big money may be able to buy off judges, but they can't force me to partake in their offerings.
     
  15. MegansPrius

    MegansPrius GoogleMeister, AKA bongokitty

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    <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(viking31 @ Oct 29 2007, 08:27 AM) [snapback]531913[/snapback]</div>
    Contrary to the "soy" as poison hypothesis, there are also some studies linking soy to an inhibitory effect toward breast cancer. This is pretty much a topic still under investigation, as can be seen by the number of clinical trials currently testing soy in various ways. An early survey of results points toward the effect of soy being positive, although researchers are uncertain as to exactly when consuming soy might have the most benefit.
     
  16. Rae Vynn

    Rae Vynn Artist In Residence

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    The Soy Toy is for you!

    <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(efusco @ Oct 29 2007, 07:06 AM) [snapback]531927[/snapback]</div>
     
  17. JackDodge

    JackDodge Gold Member

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    <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(efusco @ Oct 29 2007, 09:03 AM) [snapback]531909[/snapback]</div>
    I've tried but I can't seem to figure it out. How do you milk a soy bean anyway? I don't see an udder on 'em. B)
     
  18. patsparks

    patsparks An Aussie perspective

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    Unfortunately the soy beans die in the process.
     
  19. SSimon

    SSimon Active Member

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    Viking31 - From what I've read, you need to be concerned that your soy product has been derived through fermentation. I've looked long and hard and the only soy product that is processed with the process of fermentation is tempeh.

    I don't stay away from soy now, but I am relying increasingly on alternative sources for my protein intake. I've always believed that a diverse diet is better in many regards anyway. Maybe that option is allowable for you????
     
  20. daniel

    daniel Cat Lovers Against the Bomb

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    <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(patsparks @ Oct 29 2007, 07:20 AM) [snapback]531931[/snapback]</div>
    If you do not have your own cows, or an organic dairy farm, the cows that give the milk you drink are probably fed on a concoction made of soy, corn, and fish meal. They may also get (I kid you not!) chicken feed previously passed through the chickens: Chickens do not digest their feed well, and there is still some nutritional value left in it. This is salvaged by feeding chicken manure to cows. Mixed in small proportions with the above feed mix. And BTW those chickens, among other stuff, corn for example, also get cow's brains and other slaughterhouse waste. And the cows and chickens and all the rest get a chemical cocktail of antibiotics and growth hormones to make them grow faster and keep them alive in unnatural and unhealthy conditions of overcrowded and manure-festering barns.

    Farming has come a long way in the last half century.