When making homemade soy milk with a blender, what is the difference between:
- cooking beans -> blending –> straining
- blending raw beans -> cooking –> straining
- blending raw beans -> straining –> cooking
Is there any difference or advantage to using one method over another?
P.S. Since soaking the beans is always the first step, I left that part out in this question for sake of simplicity.
Best Answer
I know I am joining the conversation late, but I wanted to share my experience with making soy milk in two different ways. First method tried: soak, blend, strain, boil. This method produced a milk with a strong soy flavor but also a LOT of okara (perhaps my blender is wimpy?).
Another time, I soaked the beans in a crock pot, and then, just out of habit from making other beans, I started cooking them after they had sufficiently soaked. I LOVED the result. Cooking the beans produced a much milder bean with an almost sweet flavor. True, this version was much more like a soy cream (depending on how much water was added) when blended, but I liked it so much better than the grainy, almost vegetable-tasting traditional soy milk.
I think it much improved the flavor and texture, and plus, I could then add some of the cooked beans to various dishes to add extra protein where needed.