Soy Milk Deep Thoughts

So, I have been making soy milk for about 6 years. It started when I couldn’t drink regular dairy milk because of how it reacted in my type one diabetic body. I guess my body thought I had eaten a candy bar? So, I wanted a milk that didn’t drive me crazy and actually had protein and calories in it.

Almond milk, oat milk, and rice milk just didn’t work. But making soy milk was laborious, boiling it, blending it, straining, etc. I found a source for organic soy beans, Laura’s Farm, and so started with buying bags of soy beans. I now get 13 pounds every 6 months.

I went through 4 soy milk machines. I prefer the soybella, and now use 2 of them.

After suffering with the filtering and straining process, I finally bought a fine mesh screen that fits into a metal bowl.

The soy milk machine is super. It blends, cooks, and partially strains the milk, and also has a small attachment so I can blend or grind coffee beans, flax seeds, spices, or oats. It is a terrific machine, and I got a second one because I make so much soy milk, I figured ok I will do 2 batches every 2 days, or more, if I make yogurt.

The yogurt is very simple. I use a glass jar, starter from a previous batch, and place it in this little dedicated yogurt maker I got ten years ago. Cheap, you plug it in, and it does the job! I started with vegan yogurt starter I bought on Amazon 2 years ago.

I usually strain it in a cheese cloth placed in the fine metal mesh strainer, and drink the liquid. It’s kind of like a kefir. The strained yogurt makes a respectable cream cheese. We use it in everything, usually flavoring it with garlic, herbs, hot peppers, and other nice things. Spread on bread or crackers, and used in pastas, it is a serious contender for a starring role in any meal that needs cheese.

I also make vegan sauces and cheeses for pizza and sandwiches, using Gloriously Vegan powders. My favorite is mozzalicious powder. I mix it with soy milk, in the blender, then pour it into a Pyrex measuring cup. I microwave it on a low setting, stirring frequently until thickened. It thickens quickly so I keep it very loose until I add it to my pasta or pizza, because it will continue to cook. For a sandwich, I cook it very thick.

So, those are my deep thoughts. I do believe it has saved me hundreds of dollars, and the convenience of having all of this stuff to make at home instead of driving to the store for milk, cheese, sauces and all of that, is just priceless for me.

I have a store on Amazon but I have never posted it. I may do that in comments if anyone wants to find the soybella and filters, etc. I have really enjoyed this. I hope you will try it if you like vegan milks. The machine also does almond, rice,and oat milks. Probably hemp milk too. You just use the no heat setting, and it blends and filters the milks. But I suspect you would want a second filter just as I do with the soy milk. I usually compost the leftover pulp.