Home-Made Soy Milk

Soy milk - a staple ingredient in any vegan kitchen and delicious, kinder alternative to cows milk. Although it isn't as simple to make as other plant milks, this one doesn't come with any preservatives, thickeners and excessive sweeteners (a big pro!). It's also very cheap to make; half a cup of soaked soy beans yields almost 1 litre of milk! We bought the soy beans from a non-waste, organic bulk food store and we highly recommend you do the same.

Makes approx. 2 litres

Ingredients:

• 2 cups organic soybeans

• 10 cups filtered water

• 2 tbsp agave or rice syrup (optional)

• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract (optional)

Method:

• Soak the soybeans in filtered water overnight (at least 12 hours)

• Drain the beans in a strainer and rinse well under water.

• Rub the soy beans in your hands and shake the strainer (while rinsing) to separate the skin from the beans. You will see them fall off straight away.

• Remove all the skins - this is a tedious step but I found it quite fun so chuck on some of your favourite tunes and pick away!

Soy bean skins

• Repeat the rubbing/rinsing process a few times until there are no more skins.

• Now add 1/2 a cup of the soy beans along with 2 cups of filtered water to a Nutribullet or high speed blender and blitz till you get a white, milky liquid

• Pour the blended soybeans in a large bowl lined with a sieve and muslin cloth and wait till most of the soy milk has filtered through.

• Squeeze the remaining pulp/foam using the muslin cloth. This left over pulp is called 'Okara' and is a versatile and nutritious bi-product of soybeans that can be used in baked goods and an egg substitute!

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Okara (soy bean pulp)

• Repeat this process with the remainder of the beans.

• Pour the filtered milk in a saucepan with 2 more cups of filtered water, agave and vanilla. Cook on a medium heat for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally and removing the foam/skin layer when it forms (cooking the milk prevents the milk from tasting bitter/sour).

• Cool the milk completely and remove any remaining 'skin' layer at the top using a spoon.

• Pour the soy milk into glass bottles and store in the fridge for up to 4 days.