Soy Milk Experiment

I did try making my own soy milk.  I searched numerous recipes, gleaned tips and tricks, researched my health food store, and finally took the plunge.

I have almost used all of my quart of purchased soy milk by now.  I've used it over cereal, added it to Pero, and had a small glass or two plain.  I tried the original flavor so I could better compare the prepared stuff to my homemade stuff.  It is so expensive that I really want an alternative.

Saturday afternoon I set the beans to soaking.  Sunday afternoon I set to work.  I carefully made sure the bean hulls all came off and were discarded to make the flavor milder, which took nearly an hour.  I ground batch after batch of soaked soy-beans with water in my blender which leaked all over.  I put them in my big pan and painstakingly stirred and monitored it to prevent scorching while it came to a boil.  By that point I was pretty sure it stank. 

I added a bit of orange rind (carefully excluding the bitter pithy part) in order to further neutralize any lingering beany taste.  I added sugar and a touch of salt as per the recipes and recommendations.  And I let it cool a bit, cracking the door open a bit to wash the bean stink out of the house.

Finally I got a square of unbleached muslin from my fabric stash (clean with no fabric softener) and lined a colander with it.  I poured batch after batch of pulpy juicy into the colander, gathered the edges of the cloth and "milked" the juice through the fabric, leaving only bean fragments behind.  I burned my hands trying to just finish it and dripped "milk" on the counter and dropped bean fragments on the floor.

After the milk had cooled further I carefully transferred it to a sealed glass pitcher in the refrigerator.  I decided to wait until it was thoroughly chilled to really taste it so I could try to keep a proper perspective.  It had a beautiful creamy color and texture and I tried to keep an open mind.

When I opened the pitcher for a taste it stank like beans.  It tastes more like fresh green bean soup than anything like milk.  Gag!  I tried warming it up and adding it to sugar and cocoa powder like the hot chocolate I once drank.  No amount of sugar and cocoa  could mask the flavor.

So here's my personal experience: Homemade soy milk is sick and disgusting. I can handle the store bought stuff, but this half-gallon of headache is going down the drain.  And now I need to go scrub the pots, bowls, colander, counter top, floor, and wash a load of laundry with the offended cloth.  What a mess!

Next stop: rice milk.  It can't be any worse, right?