Post Punk Kitchen Forum

We go through tons of soymilk in my house. Lately I have been thinking about making my own to save all of that packaging and hopefully save money too. Does anyone have any tips? What machine do you like? I have thought about just making almond milk which is what I prefer but I worry about the low protein content of almond milk. My son gets the majority of his protein from milk.

hmm I was just reading about hemp and oat milk are both high in protein too. Any thoughts?

I have a Joyoung soy milk maker and I really like it. I like the taste of fresh homemade soymilk but it's very different from the storebought one. I think you should figure if you and your son even like the taste. If you don't know anyone who owns a soy milk maker, try a asian grocery store, they might have fresh soy milk that tastes very similar to homemade (no additives, flavourings etc.)Though, you should consider buying it even if you don't like the milk just for drinking, it's good for baking and making tofu.

I used to make almond milk. It is really easy, the only reason I stopped is because I never knew what to do with all the leftover pulp and didn't want to waste it anymore.

Soak almonds in water overnight. Rinse and put in blender, add enough water to cover them. If you want to, add a drop of vanilla and a few dates for a sweeter milk. For plain, just add a tiny pinch of salt. Blend until smooth. Strain through cheesecloth or a nut milk bag. Keeps for 3-4 days in the fridge.

I'm sorry, but your question really makes me want to say that I'm sure we have some lactating moms on the boards.

haha Might be a little weird for me to buy and drink their milk though

Ha! I am. So I do! But I also make nut milk as Momo described. I make cookies with the pulp in the dehydrator (you could also find a recipe to bake with it). As for soymilk I heard good things about the SoyQuick 930. Also I think Bryanna Clark Grogan posted a big thing about making soymilk on her website (she may have used this machine, my memory fails me). And Julie has a video on everyday dish: http://www.everydaydish.tv/index.php?page=recipe&recipe=87

i used to make my own rice milk.
i would boil brown rice for longer than necessary and with more water. I would put this through the juicer and add a bit of maple syrup and salt, vanilla if i used it in cereal. You can use the rice pulp to make crackers as well. Just heat a hibatchi or a non stick griddle and cook until the pulp is dry.

I always see "blanched almonds" in almond milk recipes. IS that really necessary?

I'd like to get back to making my own, to avoid packaging, but the extra boiling to blanch the nuts looks like an energy waste in my eyes.

I used the pulp as skin scrub and in composting.
I think I used some in baking for a while. I'd just freeze it 'til I needed it.

(and I nursed my son for almost 3 years, so I have made MY own milk!) :)

I usually make almond, oat, or cashew milk at home. Soak 1/2 cup of whatever overnight. For oat, I use steel cut oats and I blend it with the soaking water. For nuts, I use fresh water, and blend with 2 cups. And then I strain with a nut milk bag (you could use cheesecloth, too).
I just add oil, nooch and salt to the pulp and use it as ricotta with salads.
I also keep shelf-stable packaged milk on hand in case I forget to soak, and it ends up totally cutting down on packaging.

We have a SoyQuick soymilk maker and we use it all the time. It is so much cheaper and so much nicer to know what is going in our milk. We make soy, cashew, oat and rice milks in it. And we also do an oat/rice blend because the oat tends to be quite thick.

I've just started making soymilk at home (by hand). I'm trying out a soy-oat combo at the moment, because I was worried that my partner would find the straight soy too "beany". I'm looking into getting a soymilk maker, but honestly, if you just wanted to try making it once to see if you liked it before you made the investment, it's not such a big deal. There are a few steps to it, which can be a little time-consuming, but I don't find it difficult to do. I've also been making my own tofu from the soymilk, which is pretty great.
It definitely is cheaper and obviously less packaging and so forth, and I like that it's customisable. If you got a milk-maker then I reckon it wouldn't be too hard to make both soy and almond milks. Definitely give it a go!

I go through unsweetened Almond Breeze like NOBODY'S business, so I've been wanting to make my own for a long time. I don't yet have a nut milk bag, so I've been making hemp seed milk, which doesn't need to be strained. Oh my god, it is DELICIOUS. The first time I made it, a few weeks ago, I blended hemp seeds, water, vanilla, and the tiniest drop of stevia and it was the most amazing milk I have ever had. I'm obsessed. I can't wait to get a nutmilk bag and try with other kinds of nuts and seeds.

I was looking into this a while ago and I thought about getting a soymilk maker. Then I started reading how you can make milks in a vitamix, and I thought I'd rather wait and get the vitamix which has so many more uses. But I don't know what people's experiences have been using either product. Would it be better to just get the soymilk maker sooner, and for less money? It sounds like you can make tofu in them, which the vitamix can't do I guess.

That ricotta idea is the best ever. I'm totally buying some almonds tomorrow and hooking this up!

I am strangely fascinated by this! Soy milk creeps me out because of how I think it is made. If I could make my own I may not be so grossed out.

How long will the milk last?

You can't actually make tofu in the soymilk maker, you would need a tofu making kit which you can get for around $20.00 and you would use any soymilk you wanted. I think once you start making your own soymilk it's a natural progression to making your own tofu.

I have a soyapower that I love, I usually make soy or almond milk. I've never used a vitamix, but I just looked up the directions for making soy milk in one, it doesn't sound too bad but there are definitely more steps. With both you have to presoak the beans, with the soymilk maker you add the beans/water to machine and turn it on, it beeps when it's done then you strain (strainer comes with it) and you're done. With the vitamix you grind the beans, boil the water, add to the vitamix in batches, strain through cheesecloth then you have to cook it on the stove top.

I guess it depends on how much soymilk you make and how much time you have. I make 1 to 2 batches a week, it takes about 30 minutes (including cleanup) and I think it's totally worth it!

Here is another discussion on the topic that might be helpful:
viewtopic.php?f=18&t=1526&p=36767&hilit=soymilk+maker#p36767

It lasts about 7 to 10 days.

I've made my own hemp and pumpkin seed milk. Both are high in very good quality protein. Hemp tastes a bit better but pumpkin seed works out cheaper.

I have a Soybella machine I bought in the box at a yard sale but I have never made soymilk in it, I always use the Nut Milk option (almonds, holla!) and it works pretty damn well. They aren't that cheap ($100 new) though...

http://www.amazon.com/Soyabella-Milk-Ma ... 075&sr=8-5

the reviews on here look dodgy but so far I've had good luck...and I guess you can make tofu in it too!

Nope! If you strain the milk with a nutmilk bag afterwards, it filters out skin pieces anyway. I don't always strain mine, but it does make a nice smooth milk when I do.

Does the hemp milk taste like store-bought? Because I couldn't stand that stuff, but the homemade stuff looks so rich and creamy (and white!) here. Do you just make it in a regular blender? And you don't strain it?

You don't need to strain it (or at least I don't but I have a high speed blender). It's creamier than store bought and higher protein (and fat) because the store bought version is quite watered down which they try to make up for by adding carrageenan, a potentially dangerous (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carrageena ... h_concerns) thickener/stabilizer that's also very common in ice creams.

I have a decent highspeed blender (a good Cuisinart one) but usually for my milks I just make it when I want it - glass by glass - in 20 seconds in the Magic Bullet! No joke!

Ok, I think I'm going to buy a soymilk maker! I can get Joyoung ones quite cheap on ebay. Does anyone have any experience with this brand? I might go into China Town too and see if they have any in the shops.