the soybean processing and culture thread

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Alphaville
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the soybean processing and culture thread

Post by Alphaville »

i'm looking to get more plant-based protein, and soy is a key element where i'm more dependent on processed consumer items than other staples.

so i'm starting this thread to discuss things like:

-choosing and buying soybeans (i can't grow them at this time)

-hulling / cooking / grinding them

-making soymilk

-coagulating and pressing tofu

-culturing soy yogurt (i might try this weekend with store-bought milk)

-culturing tempeh (tastiest way to eat it)

-fermenting natto

-other things i don't know or haven't thought about

the goal is to set up a supply and processing chain with simple inputs and multiple edible tasty digestible outputs (eg beans turn to milk, milk turns to tofu and yogurt, etc.)

anyone with experience or a good bibliography or just questions is welcome to post here...

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Alphaville
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Re: the soybean processing and culture thread

Post by Alphaville »

so my first project is going to be transfering my milk cultures into soymilk for soy yogurt.

my understanding from things i 've read online is that:

1) the cultures transfer just ok initially, but pick up strength over generations (makes sense)

2) the best yogurt is made from soymilk that only contains water and soybeans--no additives of any kind.

i might post up links when i find my late-late-night sources again. [eta: https://thehiddenveggies.com/best-homem ... oy-yogurt/ ]

plan is to scald (why? not sure) then culture same as i do with moo milk. for moo milk yogurt, see here: viewtopic.php?f=6&t=11235

article linked above seems to suggest fermentation takes lots longer? (15h for 1qt! nuts!)

i might wanna add sugar to level up with milk as there is no lactose for the bacteria to break. this is currently a bit of a puzzle. sucrose is a disaccharide too...

eta:
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/2118792/ wrote:
Utilization of sugars by Lactobacillus acidophilus strains

Abstract

Utilization of various carbohydrates viz., glucose, fructose, sucrose, lactose and galactose by Lactobacillus acidophilus strains was investigated in Lactobacillus Selection Broth. Maximum viable counts, acid production and sugar utilization by different test strains were in the order: glucose greater than or equal to fructose greater than sucrose greater than or equal to lactose greater than galactose. The generation time of the tested strains was shorter in glucose medium as compared to sucrose or lactose medium.
so looks like lactose is overrated :lol:
Last edited by Alphaville on Thu Mar 11, 2021 6:20 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Alphaville
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Re: the soybean processing and culture thread

Post by Alphaville »

this article is about culturing tempeh in perpetuity:

https://www.fermentingforfoodies.com/sa ... h-culture/

it's a mold. i've never cultured molds. just saving the link here for now.

white belt
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Re: the soybean processing and culture thread

Post by white belt »

I haven’t tried any of the advanced processing techniques, but I followed these instructions to cook soybeans and they turned out fine: https://www.bobsredmill.com/recipes/how ... re-cooker/

Of course that’s just the initial preparation step, but then you can add them to pretty much any recipe that calls for beans. I know you mentioned in other threads that soybeans have a strong flavor, but I find they don’t really have much of a flavor on their own.

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Re: the soybean processing and culture thread

Post by Alphaville »

white belt wrote:
Thu Mar 11, 2021 7:31 pm
I haven’t tried any of the advanced processing techniques, but I followed these instructions to cook soybeans and they turned out fine: https://www.bobsredmill.com/recipes/how ... re-cooker/

Of course that’s just the initial preparation step, but then you can add them to pretty much any recipe that calls for beans. I know you mentioned in other threads that soybeans have a strong flavor, but I find they don’t really have much of a flavor on their own.
yeah it's... i've no idea. often a tossup from soy product to soy product. some are great, some are awful. e.g israeli soy schnitzels: glorious. soy protein isolate: tastes like rat poison (lol). miso is great, tempeh is great, silken tofu sucks. soy nuts are vile, but edamame is quite good. never found an ingredient so unpredictable. it's a real puzzler.

my local supplier of bulk groceries was out of soybeans the other day. so meanwhile i think i'll buy a can of black soybeans to try as such, and go from there...

you eat them often, or just once in a while?

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Re: the soybean processing and culture thread

Post by white belt »

Alphaville wrote:
Thu Mar 11, 2021 8:35 pm
my local supplier of bulk groceries was out of soybeans the other day. so meanwhile i think i'll buy a can of black soybeans to try as such, and go from there...

you eat them often, or just once in a while?
I did a test run where I just ordered 7 lbs of soybeans from Amazon because I couldn't find them locally. The supplier was Soymerica. Since I rarely eat soy, I wanted to make sure it wouldn't cause me any GI issues (I was fine).

I made a batch using the cooking method described above. I then seasoned them with some typical spices and then mixed them with cooked veggies (shredded cabbage and carrots) and rice. The taste was fine, the bigger issue was the lack of moisture. They don't seem to generate the same amount of juices as other kinds of beans. Therefore, you're going to want to pair them with some liquid base (sauce, soup, etc) because they are quite dry. Mixing with rice is fine, but again you're going to want something to add moisture because rice will also be quite dry. I additionally seasoned with some sriracha, but next time if I attempt a similar mix of soybeans with ingredients I have on hand, I'm going to include a sauce with much more liquid. I admit I am quite inexperienced with cooking/preparing legumes since I rarely eat them, but that's my 2 cents.

My next iteration is a curry recipe I found that is designed for soybeans. I've found lots of recipes from India and East Asia that incorporate soybeans (also called soya), but eating the unprocessed version of soy seems quite rare in Western cuisine.

The plan was to incorporate them into my regular diet as a meat replacement for up to one meal a day, but I've been putting it off and don't have an established rotation of go-to soybean recipes yet. It's on my to do list.

Edit: To clarify, I don't mean the soybeans themselves were hard or anything like that. They cook and plump up like other beans, it's just they didn't seem quite as juicy if that makes sense.

basuragomi
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Re: the soybean processing and culture thread

Post by basuragomi »

Here is my experience creating DIY calcium acetate which can be used to coagulate tofu as an accessible alternative to calcium sulphate. Haven't tried it yet since it's inconvenient to get bulk soybeans here.

Peanuts have the same protein (glycinin) as tofu which means that you could theoretically make a peanut tofu in a similar manner.

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Re: the soybean processing and culture thread

Post by Alphaville »

white belt wrote:
Thu Mar 11, 2021 10:13 pm
Edit: To clarify, I don't mean the soybeans themselves were hard or anything like that. They cook and plump up like other beans, it's just they didn't seem quite as juicy if that makes sense.
ah! i really don't know, having never eaten them in that state but will observe and keep you posted as i go. i saw the soymericas on amazon the other day but decided to hold due to order size.

my plan is to buy a can of eden soybeans on next grocery run. eden is top of the line, so to speak, so it should be a good paradigm to guide further exploration.
basuragomi wrote:
Thu Mar 11, 2021 11:16 pm
Here is my experience creating DIY calcium acetate which can be used to coagulate tofu as an accessible alternative to calcium sulphate. Haven't tried it yet since it's inconvenient to get bulk soybeans here.

Peanuts have the same protein (glycinin) as tofu which means that you could theoretically make a peanut tofu in a similar manner.
ah, this is brilliant, thanks! great info, and i had no idea of either notion. fun to see the experiment, will see about replicating, and experimenting with peanuts.

i saw you're in ontario... don 't you guys grow the stuff? does it all get exported? see: http://www.omafra.gov.on.ca/english/cro ... beans.html

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Re: the soybean processing and culture thread

Post by Alphaville »

i had a cup of unsweetened eden soy milk with breakfast today. as a sample. excellent nutrition, taste, density, etc. no additives: just water and organic soybeans.

only problem is at $3.89 or whatever per box, it's nearly $1 per cup... of watered down soybeans!

just found that vitacost sells cheaper: https://www.vitacost.com/eden-foods-org ... nsweetened

but still, $3.29 per quart is not cheap at all. and is there a shipping charge?

i'd like to make my own, as good or better than this product, but for a *small* fraction of the price.

--

eta:

looks like the process is straightforward: soak, blend, strain, and simmer.

i don't have a blender but it looks like my food processor should work-- i make peanut butter in it after all.

and now i look for a small quantity of soy beans

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Re: the soybean processing and culture thread

Post by Alphaville »

no soybeans in dry or canned form in my latest supermarket visit. will have to wait for the bulk/hippy store for a new search maybe next week or so

meanwhile, got a carton of refrigerated soymilk, but it has so many additives i doubt yogurt will come out any good. actually--won't even try.

also noticed that while refrigerated soymilk has 6-7g protein per cup, the eden brand in the box has double at 12g/8oz. which is equivalent to pricey ultrafiltered milk. so that's something.

but still with the good stuff a gallon of yogurt would be $14-$16/gallon compared to $6/gal for organic milk or $4/gal for regular milk. plus i wonder if fermentation is really possible with such low sugar levels like 2g/cup.

looks like getting the dry beans is the best option, and i could even ferment them on the spot...
Last edited by Alphaville on Wed Mar 17, 2021 11:02 am, edited 1 time in total.

white belt
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Re: the soybean processing and culture thread

Post by white belt »

@Alphaville

I like the dried soybeans for the storage convenience as well. Unless you’re a pressure canning or dehydration pro, there just aren’t a lot of high protein foods that can be stored without refrigeration over the long term. You pretty much have canned or dehydrated meats/fish, protein powders, and beans as your options.

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Re: the soybean processing and culture thread

Post by Alphaville »

yeah, i got all of the other dry beans and lentils and peanuts and peas etc, but no soybeans (yet). getting some peanut flour soon also.

i wonder if i could ferment mung beans.... like, mung bean yogurt... will have to revisit sandor katz.

lentil yogurt? haha ha.. hmmm... 🤔

pea... gotta look at the mighty pea. eta: https://www.wikihow.com/Make-Pea-Protein-Powder

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Re: the soybean processing and culture thread

Post by white belt »

Recipes that are on my list to try:

-Sichuan deep fried soybeans: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oCUE_sLuxpQ

-Chinese soymilk (probably don't want to bother with this since I already consume a lot of dairy, but it might open up options for other folks trying to experiment): https://www.cookingsensei.com/how-to-ma ... dou-jiang/

-Soybean curry: https://www.yummytummyaarthi.com/easy-s ... e-soybean/

-Korean ground soybean stew: https://www.maangchi.com/recipe/kongbiji-jjigae

-Substituting soybeans in traditional bean dishes like red beans and rice, various Mexican dishes, etc

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Re: the soybean processing and culture thread

Post by Green Pimble »

I made soymilk just the other day! I was frustrated and upset to learn (a while ago now) that tetrapacks aren't recyclable, despite the recycling symbol being present on the packs. As soy is the only milk I drink I was throwing out 1-2 of these containers a week, which I decided to change.

I followed a similar recipe, but didn't add any sugar or salt. It didn't take too long and was quite delicious. The soybeans were from a no-packaging store, and the overall cost per litre of homemade and store bought soymilk were the same. I think the overall cost can be reduced for the homemade method once I get a bit better and adding the right amount of water and squeezing harder on the cloth bag etc.

Overall good outcome, will be doing again. :D

[edit] also I used the ground up soy-bean bits that are left overs to add to my porridge. I didn't really notice the difference, but I'm sure they're adding fibre and micronutrients of some sort.

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Re: the soybean processing and culture thread

Post by Alphaville »

Green Pimble wrote:
Thu May 13, 2021 5:48 pm
The soybeans were from a no-packaging store, and the overall cost per litre of homemade and store bought soymilk were the same.
wow! this was unexpected. but congrats for getting it to work on first try.
Green Pimble wrote:
Thu May 13, 2021 5:48 pm
Overall good outcome, will be doing again. :D
i look forward to reading your log/future updates on this subject. very encouraging. so encouraging i might in fact get my soybeans out of the pantry this weekend after all... (not sure if for milk or yogurt yet)

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Re: the soybean processing and culture thread

Post by Green Pimble »

Alphaville wrote:
Fri May 14, 2021 1:54 pm
wow! this was unexpected. but congrats for getting it to work on first try.
It may be a function of Austrralia having expensive groceries. A litre of soymilk here is ~$2.
Alphaville wrote:
Fri May 14, 2021 1:54 pm
i look forward to reading your log/future updates on this subject. very encouraging. so encouraging i might in fact get my soybeans out of the pantry this weekend after all... (not sure if for milk or yogurt yet)
Do it! I'd be interested to hear about soy yoghurt, because probiotics like that are easy to miss in a vegan diet.

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Re: the soybean processing and culture thread

Post by Alphaville »

Green Pimble wrote:
Fri May 14, 2021 6:03 pm
It may be a function of Austrralia having expensive groceries. A litre of soymilk here is ~$2.
hah! a litre here (a quart) of the best industrial soymilk (edensoy) is $4. i think your $2 is about $1.50 usd at close of currency markets today--you're the clear winner!
Green Pimble wrote:
Fri May 14, 2021 6:03 pm
Do it! I'd be interested to hear about soy yoghurt, because probiotics like that are easy to miss in a vegan diet.
ah! what about sauerkraut, pickles, natto, tepache, kombucha? :)

check out this great little book. it's old now, but he was the modern pioneer:

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/135 ... rmentation

he's a 5/5 for me even though he's not ultratechnical.

but yes, i am a yogurt fiend. ok! i'll try this weekend instead of buying a new milk.maybe i'll buy a little soy yogurt to add the extra l. plantarum to the ecosystem.

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Re: the soybean processing and culture thread

Post by Alphaville »

ok i'm thinking of fermenting whole soybeans instead of making milk first and the yogurt (cuz ain't nobody got time for that)

this thing:
https://www.eatthismuch.com/food/nutrit ... ns,130783/

says there are 12g net carbs per cupof cooked soybean

but is it starch or sugar? and if it's starch--can lactobacillus break it?

and if it can't... should i add yeast? :lol:

not joking, thinking of a quick and dirty sourbean of sorts here (like sourdough).

i bought the beans "for science" so if it fails it fails.

i need to circle back later and check the facts before proceeding. all those online recipes i'm finding are for the birds! :lol:

eta: this looks more like it! minimal labor, nothing wasted...

https://www.wikihow.com/Ferment-Beans

oh look, linked from that page:

https://www.wikihow.com/Eat-Natto

natto btw is the only vegan food with b12 yeah?

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Re: the soybean processing and culture thread

Post by white belt »

According to this, soybeans contain no starch: https://www.britannica.com/plant/soybean

Here's a study that provides some information on the sugar composition of different soybean strains: https://www.hindawi.com/journals/ija/2009/484571/

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Re: the soybean processing and culture thread

Post by Alphaville »

white belt wrote:
Sat May 15, 2021 4:47 pm
According to this, soybeans contain no starch: https://www.britannica.com/plant/soybean

Here's a study that provides some information on the sugar composition of different soybean strains: https://www.hindawi.com/journals/ija/2009/484571/
thanks dude!

no b12 either it turns out (damn!)

will study papers

--

eta: ok! if it's all sugars, it's similar per cup to milk. lactobacillus here we go! maybe there are others...

ps a ferment that could metabolize raffinose would be glorious. no more tannhauser! :lol: maybe i buy a pill, maybe i pick up from the wild...

maybe that plant yogurt does the trick too... 🤞

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