I stopped eating beef at least fifteen years ago, but I kept on eating lamb and mutton as long as we had sheep — until 2005. I also milked goats and drank goats’ milk and made cheese. After the goats, we drank nonfat cows’ milk and ate cheese (whatever was on sale). This latter bit made no sense for watching one’s weight, since most supermarket cheese is made from whole milk and is about as fatty a substance as you can eat without shoving a stick of butter in your face. Yet a lot of people who avoid red meat will consume milk and cheese, even though getting milk from a cow involves the birth and death (if male) of a calf, and the eventual butchering of the cow into hamburger when she gets old or infirm. The dairy industry as it currently exists, with thousands of cows standing on heaps of their own dung which pollutes groundwater and emits staggering amounts of ammonia and methane, is just not like those bucolic ads you see on TV urging you to drink more milk.
So: if you want to pour something not made from animal products on your cereal or oatmeal, there are many options now: almond milk, soy milk, hemp milk, etc. They’re all good. But you can make great soy milk at home. Here’s how:
Get some organic soybeans from your favorite natural foods store, or buy a fifty pound bag of them. Scoop out 1-1/2 cups of dry soybeans and put them in a large bowl. Rinse them out a couple of times to make sure you don’t have any rocks or dirt in there, then cover them generously with water and let them stand overnight.
The next day, rinse and drain the beans, and put a large kettle of water on to boil. Find a colander, line it with a terrycloth hand towel, and place it over a large soup pot. Get out your blender. Put a third of the beans into the blender, with 2 cups of boiling water. Grind for one minute. Dump the resulting mess into the colander. Repeat until beans are used up. Pour another 2-1/2 cups boiling water over the soy pulp in the colander, using some of it to rinse out the blender jar. Add another quart of boiling water to colander (if you’re going to make tofu out of this batch of soy milk, leave this out). Go away for awhile until the okara (soy pulp) cools. Pick up the edges of the towel in the colander and start squeezing. Squeeze until the okara is fairly dry or your hand starts cramping up, whichever comes first. Remove colander. What you have in the soup pot is soy milk, but it’s not ready to drink yet. You have to cook it, to deactivate enzymes in the beans that prevent the digestion of the soy proteins. Boiling it for 10 minutes works, but I’ve never been able to do this without scorching the milk. An alternate method is to put the soup pot into the kettle in which you boiled the water, a la a double-boiler, get the water in the kettle boiling again, and cook for 30 minutes. Then pour the milk into quart canning jars, put lids on, and stick in the refrigerator. Makes about three quarts and will keep for at least two weeks. But be sure to pour some of the hot milk into a cup, add some honey, and enjoy right away.
I figured it out once: homemade soy milk costs about 11 cents a quart. Save money and prevent pollution: get off the cow!
Next time: What we do with the okara.
louise wagenknecht
Louise Wagenknecht worked for the Forest Service for 31 years and has written two books about her life in the Klamath Mountains of northern California. She writes from the wilds of eastern Idaho.
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Ralph, honestly, recipies? Whats next, baby sitting tips for pro-wolf families with newborns? Then again perhaps this is just a new challenge for all our gadflies to see how inventive they can be in politicizing soy milk…
mikepost,
Just like wildlife disease, the food we eat or the specific foods we eat are very politically charged. I know you mean it as a joke, but soy products are intensely politicized.
I see your comment after reading TC’s, is a bit different from this first one that you wrote.
Couple of thoughts. There is growing evidence that soy products may not be the miracle protein source once believed (actually, the protein quality is fodder for another discussion entirely – not nearly as complete or valuable as animal protein), and that there are health risks associated with consumption of significant amounts of soy and associated phytoestrogens including genistein and daidzein. Many endocrinologists and developmental and reproductive specialists strongly discourage soy products for infants and children, pregnant women (and more importantly, their fetuses), and certain men. The evidence is not all in, but enough studies suggest elevated risk of a variety of developmental and reproductive syndromes for some in these populations. There also are a few studies that suggest (not prove) that high soy consumption may be associated with increased risk of dementia late in life. Raw soybeans contain a host of fairly unpleasant compounds including trypsin inhibitors, hemagglutinins, phytic acid, goitrogens, and others, and your “cooking” method above may not address all of these concerns. I’d be VERY careful about advocating consumption of foods if you don’t have the whole story, especially on safe preparation and suggested restrictions for certain segments of the population. And if you think consuming soybeans or their products “prevents pollution” you’ve got quite a bit to learn about soybean production – farming soybeans is in no way carbon footprint friendly, soybeans require significant irrigation in most areas of the country (often entailing yet more energy use, outside of water issues), and there have been numerous incidents where “organic” soybeans have tested positive for pesticide and herbicide residues and/or fail GMO tests (much of the commercially grown soybeans are genetically modified, often “Roundup-Ready” so herbicides can be used to reduce weeds).
There are few magic bullets out there, but there sure is a new fad “perfect food” every day. Problem is, most of them are like everything else – some good traits, some bad traits; in my opinion some soy in your diet is fine, but it’s not a cure-all or perfect food, and it’s not an acceptable primary protein source for pregnant women or infants especially. Everything in moderation still rings true. Stop drinking the soybean koolaid.
TC, thanks for the post. I learned a few things here about soy that are very interesting.
I still think that the diet we evolved with is the best one: primarily vegitarian but supplemented with meat on a regular basis.
CHARTS: Why Your Chicken Is Still Making You Sick
http://www.motherjones.com/tom-philpott/2012/08/food-borne-illnesses-not-decreasing
This is a great little video that says a great deal:
WATCH: The Hidden Costs of Hamburgers
http://www.motherjones.com/blue-marble/2012/08/hidden-costs-hamburgers