A New Toy for the New Year

Elly surprised me this Christmas with a Soy Milk Maker. This is simply a machine that makes soy milk in the comfort of your home. These machines are relatively unheard of in much of the world, though in Asia are much more common.

I have been a loyal soy milk drinker ever since an allergy developed in my teens forced me to find an alternative to cow milk. I love soy milk and it is one of the mainstays of my being. One of the biggest hardships for me of travel for work is the lack of soy milk for my cereal. While my allergy has largely gone away, I have continued drinking soy milk because I consider it much healthier

I have tried many different products over the years, though recently I have been buying the generic soy milk at Trader Joe's and the unsweetened Silk variety available everywhere. The new soy milk maker has meant that I have not purchased soy milk since December. All you need for the soy milk machine is water and soybeans. Soybeans are readily available in the asian market near my home at a price of $0.69 per pound. One pound of beans is enough to make approximately five to ten gallons of soy milk. You start by soaking a cup of the beans overnight in water. The water gets drained from the beans and they are now ready to use.

The beans are then dumped into a small metal basket.

This basket locks onto the bottom of the machine, where there are small blender blades.

The next step is to fill the bottom section with clean water up to a designated line.

The top half containing the beans in the metal basketis then placed on the bottom section containing the water. A simple push of a button gets the whole process going. It takes about 15 minutes to make two quarts of soy milk.

What does it taste like? It is an acquired taste, being more bitter and beany than Silk and nothing at all like cows milk. I think it makes great soy milk with none of the nasty additives at a fraction of the price you pay in the store, so it is a hit with me. For those of you not used to soy milk, I would encourage you to buy a carton at a local store to see if you like it before committing to the large cost of a machine. For those of you who already know you like soy milk and have some extra space in you cabinet, this is probably a very good investment. I recommend the Veg Gourmet Soymilk Maker http://www.healthytraders.com/gourmet-automatic-milk-maker-p-3222.html