Soy milk maker
Encyclopedia
Small appliance
Small appliance refers to a class of home appliances that are portable or semi-portable or which are used on tabletops, countertops, or other platforms in the United States of America...
which automatically cooks
Cooking
Cooking is the process of preparing food by use of heat. Cooking techniques and ingredients vary widely across the world, reflecting unique environmental, economic, and cultural traditions. Cooks themselves also vary widely in skill and training...
soy milk
Soy milk
Soy milk and sometimes referred to as soy drink/beverage is a beverage made from soybeans. A stable emulsion of oil, water, and protein, it is produced by soaking dry soybeans and grinding them with water...
, a non-dairy
Dairy
A dairy is a business enterprise established for the harvesting of animal milk—mostly from cows or goats, but also from buffalo, sheep, horses or camels —for human consumption. A dairy is typically located on a dedicated dairy farm or section of a multi-purpose farm that is concerned...
beverage made from soy beans. Soy milk makers work similarly to a combination between a home blender
Blender
A blender is a kitchen appliance for chopping or liquefying food.Blender may also refer to:Media:* Blender , a music-themed magazine* Blender , a free and open-source software program for 3D modeling, animation, and rendering...
and an automatic coffee maker. Some soy milk makers can also be programmed to make almond milk
Almond milk
Almond milk is a milky drink made from ground almonds. Unlike animal milk, almond milk contains no cholesterol or lactose. Regular, unsweetened almond milk can be used as a substitute for animal milk in many recipes, and as it does not contain any animal products, is suitable for vegetarians and...
, rice milk and other vegetable
Vegetable
The noun vegetable usually means an edible plant or part of a plant other than a sweet fruit or seed. This typically means the leaf, stem, or root of a plant....
-based steeped
Steeping
Steeping or weltering may mean:# Saturation in a liquid solvent to extract a soluble ingredient, where the solvent is the desired product. Tea is prepared for drinking by steeping the leaves in heated water to release the flavor and nutrients...
beverages.
Home-made soy milk can be made to the drinkers' tastes and nutrition
Nutrition
Nutrition is the provision, to cells and organisms, of the materials necessary to support life. Many common health problems can be prevented or alleviated with a healthy diet....
al requirements, providing added value. Soy pulp or okara
Okara (food)
Okara or Soy Pulp is a white or yellowish pulp consisting of insoluble parts of the soybean which remain in the filter sack when pureed soybeans are filtered in the production of soy milk...
, a healthy by-product of soy milk preparation, can be used as an ingredient in many recipe
Recipe
A recipe is a set of instructions that describe how to prepare or make something, especially a culinary dish.-Components:Modern culinary recipes normally consist of several components*The name of the dish...
s and food products.
Ordinary methods for making soy milk at home are often very labor-intensive (requiring beans to be soaked, ground in a blender
Blender (device)
A blender is a kitchen and laboratory appliance used to mix, puree, or emulsify food and other substances. A stationary blender consists of a blender jar with blade at the bottom, rotated by a motor in the base...
, strained, and then cooked). Soy milk machines perform many of these steps automatically, greatly simplifying home-based soy milk production.
Standard operation
Before use, dried beans are rinsed with water to remove particulate debris, soaked for 6–10 hours to moisten and soften the dried beans, and then rinsed again before use. The moistened soy beans are placed into the grinding chamber, where they are ground into a fine paste, and fall into a finely screened strainer chamber immersed in a pot of water.The paste is steeped in the water in a process similar to that of tea
Tea
Tea is an aromatic beverage prepared by adding cured leaves of the Camellia sinensis plant to hot water. The term also refers to the plant itself. After water, tea is the most widely consumed beverage in the world...
making; the pot of water is heat
Heat
In physics and thermodynamics, heat is energy transferred from one body, region, or thermodynamic system to another due to thermal contact or thermal radiation when the systems are at different temperatures. It is often described as one of the fundamental processes of energy transfer between...
ed, fully cooking both the dissolved soy milk and the strained soy solids, which become okara
Okara (food)
Okara or Soy Pulp is a white or yellowish pulp consisting of insoluble parts of the soybean which remain in the filter sack when pureed soybeans are filtered in the production of soy milk...
. The new models on the market now have no filter cup—soy beans are placed directly inside the machine jug.
Most soy milk makers include a mechanism to stop the boiling
Boiling point
The boiling point of an element or a substance is the temperature at which the vapor pressure of the liquid equals the environmental pressure surrounding the liquid....
soy milk from overflowing. The heater is turned off as the water level
Water level
Water level or gage height or stage is the elevation of the free surface of a stream, lake or reservoir relative to a specified datum ....
approaches the top of the chamber, and then turned back on as the soy milk returns to an acceptable level. This process is repeated for the length of the cooking period, which lasts for approximately fifteen minutes.
When the soy milk has fully cooked, the machine will automatically turn off, leaving the okara in the filter cup and the soy milk in the water chamber. Many machines will beep to inform the user of the soy milk's completion.