# why does my soy milk keep burning?



## cheery (Jul 29, 2004)

making soy milk is a cinch until it is time to wash the dishes ... i keep having a layer of burnt milk at the bottom of the pot. i am following the recipe in laurel's kitchen - soak, grind, strain, and cook for 30 minutes. the last step is required to inactivate some enzyme. i am not sure if i should be cooking on a lower heat to avoid the burning, whether that would equally serve the purpose?

help??


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## cheery (Jul 29, 2004)

why? why????

<bump>


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## cheery (Jul 29, 2004)

still waiting .... there's gotta be SOMEONE around here making her own soy milk. don't tell me i am the only one ...


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## toraji (Apr 3, 2003)

soy milk burns extremely quickly as you've found out. Use a tall pot (bigger than you think is necessary), use high heat to get it up to temp quickly, bring to a boil and watch it. You need to keep stirring while this is happening, use a whisk if you have one to keep the milk moving around. As soon as it starts to boil, it will foam up very quickly. Turn off the heat immediately and/or use a squirt of cold water to calm the bubbles down. Then your milk is done.

You should not have a burnt layer with this method, if so, you were not stirring enough.

You don't need to cook it for as long as it says in the recipe. They are trying to inactivate the trypsin inhibitors by doing this, but you can tell by taste if it is cooked or not. Taste the milk when it's raw, then taste it right after it comes to a boil. You should be able to tell the difference immediately. It will lose that "beany" flavor and taste mild and sweet. If it still tastes beany then bring to a boil again with the same method described above. Just make sure to keep stirring!


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## cheery (Jul 29, 2004)

thanks a lot lemme try this.
i am also car free (never had one)

so do i read you right, it only has to come to a boil, and can be turned off immediately afterwards? when it boils can i just pour it into another pot so i can wash the first one? This is so that in case there was any burnage, the taste wont seep into the milk.


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## toraji (Apr 3, 2003)

cool, another car-free mama!

As long as you've been good about whisking the milk, it should not have any burnage at the bottom of the pot. You just want the beany flavor to be gone, so taste the milk and see if it's done after you've stopped the boiling. If you don't mind washing an extra pot, then you can pour it into another pot to make sure but it's probably not necessary. I'm thinking that you've been having problems from not stirring enough and cooking too long.

HTH!


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## cheery (Jul 29, 2004)

well i re- read my recipe and it actually says to use a double boiler ... i didnt know what that was and i knew i didnt have one, but now i realise i can just put two of my existing vessels one on top of the other and that shoudl work. will try that next time. i am still working on finishing yesterday's batch of slightly burnt milk <sigh>


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## cheery (Jul 29, 2004)

well i finally fixed the problem. by reading the recipe








double boiler took care of the burning. now i have so much practice making the soymilk just fits neatly into my routine. it adds at most 15 minutes work to the morning (mostly in cleaning up - which i'd have to do with a soymilkmachine anyway)

so i guess no soymilk maker <sigh>


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## cheery (Jul 29, 2004)

i just want to check in to report that i am just loving making my own soy milk. It is a great relief to have as much as I want without worrying about the expense or the trash. Secondly, I am loving adding the okara to my bread dough, my soups, and a lot more recipies in the future. I am really glad I persisted - this is probably the hardest new skill I have learned in some time - though it seems so easy now.


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