… you can make it cheaper. Depending on where you live in the USA, the cost of Soy Milk can vary between $2 and $3 per quart when bought in a supermarket or health store. If you make your own soya milk your cost will vary between 20 cents and 30 cents depending on what ingredients you select and the quantities that you use. In one year, assuming that you consume 10 Quarts of Soya Milk per month, you will save at least $200 – the cost of an automatic Soy Milk Maker! You will find the cost savings of making your own tofu are also significant.
… you can have the advantage of freshness, made to your taste and convenience of being able to make your own home made soya milk or tofu.
… you can make your own fresh soya milk in no more than 30 minutes using an automatic soy milk maker, provided you have a supply of soybeans. Cleaning up afterwards is quickly done. Yes you can make your own soy milk without the need to have a soy milk maker if you have the time for each of the stages of the process and your blender has a powerful enough motor to grind the soya beans. If you need to save time then visit the Soy Store.
… you can source your ingredients responsibly. If you care about the environment, you can choose to purchase organic and certified sustainably produced soybeans and other ingredients. You will have no soya milk packaging to get rid of and can store your home made soymilk in re-useable glass containers in your refrigerator.
… you can still have the health benefits from home made soy milk and tofu. The soy protein is part of the soya bean. In 1999, the FDA authorized a new health claim relating soy protein (included in a diet low in saturated fat and cholesterol) and reduced risk coronary heart disease. Soy Protein/CHD Health Claim 21 CFR 101.82
You have given up drinking dairy milk and have switched to drinking soy milk. You have been persuaded that the benefits of drinking soy milk such as low saturated fat content and no cholesterol are important to you. While the protein content in dairy and soy milk are about the same, dairy milk does contain more calcium than soy milk – about 113 mg calcium in dairy milk and 25 mg in soy milk per 100 g. You also notice that many of the brands of soya milk sold in supermarkets are fortified with calcium and vitamins.
The economic arguments as well as convenience also convinced you to buy a soy milk maker so that you can make soya milk at home when and as you need to. But you are concerned that if commercial producers of soya milk fortify their milk with calcium and vitamins then perhaps you should do the same. This may present a dilemma. Well let us look at the “science” for fortifying your soya milk. The main additives are: calcium, vitamins and minerals plus sugar and salt. There are others but these are usually brand specific. Let us immediately eliminate sugar and salt – for health reasons both should not be added. If you need to sweeten your soya milk use natural longer chain carbohydrates such as honey or maple syrup.
Now let us consider calcium. Food safe calcium additives usually take the form of tri-calcium phosphate or preferably calcium carbonate. Then there is the water that you use to make soya milk. Pure water has a pH of 7 but water from your faucet or tap will tend to be slightly higher or lower making the water either slightly alkaline or acidic. If the water is slightly acidic there could be a minor reaction with the calcium until the pH reaches 7. The other issue is the temperature of the water. The higher the temperature generally the higher levels of calcium that will be dissolved. Calcium does not easily stay in solution. You will often find that there are particles of the calcium compound held in suspension in the liquid. The fact that soy milk is white(ish) means that you do not see the particles. But that is also the reason why there is the instruction on the carton to shake well before use – so that you will get some of the calcium with your soya milk. Have you noticed that when you drink a cup of tea with soya milk, there is usually a whitish powdery deposit at the bottom of the cup? I suspect that a chemical analysis of the residue will reveal that this is a calcium compound.
So! Should you fortify your soy milk? If you feel you must by all means do so. Speak to a knowledgeable person at your health food store as to what calcium and vitamins you could add to your soy milk. Personally, I think this is a waste of time. If you feel that your diet is deficient in calcium or vitamins then do take a daily supplement in tablet form. Better still plan to get the calcium and vitamins you need by eating more fruit and vegetables. Even resort to juicing them if you have to. If you are concerned about the source and farming methods then buy certified organically grown fruit and vegetables. Good sources of calcium include: spinach, broccolli, cabbage, kale, sweet potatoes, figs, strawberries etc. You will find that most foods and probably your drinking water contain calcium and vitamins. And the calcium in fruit and vegetables is more bio-available to your body than the calcium from dairy milk. In this regard, life is not that simple, all foods contain minerals and vitamins of varying proportion. So continue to make soya milk and get your minerals including calcium by eating some eight types of fruit and vegetable a day. The more varied the better. And remember, commercial producers of fortified soy milk are trying to compete with dairy milk – so they want to claim that you will enjoy at least the same benefits as you get from dairy milk.
Before we look at the How, let us consider Why people would want to make soy milk at home.
The most obvious reason why some people chose to use soya milk as an alternative to dairy milk is because they are vegetarians or vegans. This is perhaps a lifestyle decision and not for everyone. However, soy milk is made from soy beans which contains as much plant based soy protein as the protein in dairy milk. For vegetarians and vegans, getting plant based protein is crucial for good health.
But there are other important health reasons to drink soy milk as an alternative to dairy milk. Two immediately come to mind: saturated fats; and cholesterol. Of the fat content in soy milk, the actual fat is about 20% saturated fats (and about 80% good fats ie, mono-unsaturated and poly-unsaturated) while the fat in dairy milk is close to 60% saturated fats. Dairy milk contains cholesterol but there is no cholesterol in soy milk. So if you are trying to loose weight here is a good reason to switch to soya milk. And if you are lactose intolerant, this is a no-brainer since you probably drink soy milk (or some other plant based milk) already.
Unless you are drinking a fortified soy milk, then you are likely to need to top up your calcium levels. Only in this respect does dairy milk does score considerably higher than soya milk. But if you are eating at least 5 (rather think 8 ) portions of fruit and vegetables a day and these include curly leafed greens then you are likely to be getting enough calcium.
Another reason why people are tempted to make soy milk at home is the economic argument. Depending on what you put into your soy milk and where you live then your cost to make soya milk at home will be about 10 to 20% of the cost of purchasing soy milk. The sourcing argument is also valid. You know how and where your ingredients have been grown. Would you put your life at risk by consuming produce of dubious origin where farming practices may include a toxic variety of chemicals to increase or protect their yields?
Time to look at the How. The video below will show you all the steps to make soy milk at home. Note: you do not have to add sugar. The assumption is that you also have the time.
This post contrasts the nutritional composition of Dairy Milk with Soymilk made from soybeans. The closest to the natural form of each milk is chosen. So this excludes fortified milks of either type: dairy or soya. There are other factors to consider which will be the subject of another post.
What is interesting to note is that both dairy and soy milk make the full protein available during consumption. As you would expect, there is no cholesterol present in soya milk. Nutritionally, both forms of milk are good but there reasons why you may wish to drink soy milk in preference to dairy milk. Watch for a future post.
The Soybean (aka Soya Bean) is a great nutrient source with significant health benefits such as: reducing cholesterol levels (good for the heart); helping to control blood sugar (and thereby aid weight management); lowering the risk of cancer (particularly breast and prostate cancers); and relieving menopausal symptoms (through bone and calcium balance). There is mounting evidence to support these claims. See Soy Protein – Kristen S. Montgomery, PhD, RN.
As a food, soybeans are used to produce non-fermented (soy milk and tofu) and fermented products (soy sauce, soy yogurt, miso and tempeh ).The consumption of soya beans is not a recent phenomenon. The first use of the soybean as a food occurred in China about 5000 years ago! Its nutritional and medicinal use spread throughout Asia. It took until 1906 in the USA and 1910 in Europe for the commercial introduction of soya bean based products.
Lifestyle choices by vegetarians and vegans, and the rise of lactose intolerance are certainly driving the consumption of soy milk for instance. In March 2002, the Natural Grocery Buyer reported that the sale of refrigerated soy milk had reached $800 million in the previous year and sales growth was close to 20% per year.
Along side this there is a growing trend to make soya milk at home. While this can be done in the kitchen using no special equipment, it can be time consuming. For the busy household this is often rejected as an option after a few attempts. Just as we have our deluxe coffee machines, a generation of fully automated soy milk makers is emerging providing your soya milk from natural ingredients. The process of making soy milk takes about 30 minutes. You of course have total control over the sourcing of your beans and other natural ingredients.
The environmental benefits from making your own soy milk and switching from dairy milk can be significant. For a start this is no liquid packaging required and you can store your soy milk in glassware in your refrigerator. Without the need to transport vast volumes of milk, environmental pollution is reduced. Yes you still need to get your soya beans and ingredients but the bulk and packaging is significantly lower.
As ever in the agricultural world when the issue of substitutes arise there are likely to be clashes due to vested commercial interests. The obvious clash here is soy milk versus dairy milk. There are arguments for both but in a democracy we, the people, decide. So watch for tenuous claims and where research is involved, who funded the research? Is the research biased? Is the research methodology sound?
