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Milking the GM Debate
Well not literally, but lately I have been milking some fine organic GM free soya beans. I admit to not being a huge soya milk fan personally, but I know plenty of people who are, so when the opportunity to try a Soya Milk Maker came up I had to have a go. The unit in question is really very clever, as it makes fresh soya milk in just 15 minutes, instead of the hours it would take to prepare ordinarily. The trouble with soya is it contains an enzyme which needs to be broken down before it is useful to the human body and this unit can achieve this very efficiently.
Its not much larger than an upright domestic kettle, in fact with its shiny stainless steel body and stylish coloured top, base and handle it could well be mistaken for one. The insides though, are quite different. The top houses a motor and an electronic management unit that makes sure the process takes place correctly every time. On the underside of the top unit there is a grinder enclosed in a perforated cup that minces the soya beans, an element to heat the water and a temperature probe.
It works like this: you soak a measured quantity of soya beans in the receptacle provided for 6 to 16 hours, drain and place in the perforated metal cup under the grinder, pour 1.3 litres (2.5 pints) of water into the jug body, put the top on, plug it in and off it goes. Fifteen minutes later an alarm sounds, you unplug it, look inside, hey presto, perfect fresh soya milk.
It’s really that easy. You need to clean the element and perforated cup as soon as the process finishes. This is easier than the instruc-tions make out, I had no trouble just using running water and the materials provided.
I transferred the still hot soya milk to clean jars with pop top lids, these then self sealed as the milk cooled. The recommended storage life is five days if kept in a refrigerator. I found this to be somewhat airing on the safe side as mine still tasted fine after a week.
My testers all liked the taste of the milk, so I think it can be considered a success. I didn’t have any problems with foam forming on the surface of the soya, but this can happen depending on the quality of the water used. I used filtered water, but more about that later. The major advantages of making your own milk are that you know where the soya came from, you know nothing has been added to it, it’s cheap (around 10p per litre), you should never run out and if you use UK grown organic soya there are no air miles involved.
You are not restricted to just making soya milk either. This unit can make a wide range of other milks including; almond, coconut, pea, haricot, cashew, sesame, hazelnut and rice. These are all very quick to make as they don’t require the whole process as soya does. You can even use it to help in the making of tofu.
Having made several batches of soya milk with 100% success, I have to recommend this unit as a wonderful piece of kitchen equipment, and if I ever break my dependency on cows, I’ll buy one.
What to do with the soya pulp (Okara) left in the milk maker, I should of course have saved it and used it in veggie burgers or bread as it is an excellent source of natural food fibre, but I didn’t. It went in the the compost bin.
Back to water filtration, since I reviewed the GS2 Gravity Water Filter in PM35, I have received a constant stream of enquiries and correspondence about this subject. It seems many of you, myself included, wanted a plumbed in fresh water filter system. Since I installed one on the kitchen sink, I seem to be refilling the water jug in the refrigerator constantly, teenagers can’t manage this for themselves it seems, they just drink the stuff. We haven’t bought any bottled water since installing the filter some six months ago.
Installation of one of these units, like the FW1000, is simple and requires no special plumbing skill. The cold water feed tap even cuts its own hole in the supply pipe. The main decision is which system to go for. They all use a primary multi-stage cartridge which removes or greatly reduces: bacteria, particles, chlorine, metals, pesticides, phenols, solvents, oestrogen, hydrocarbons, etc. This is as much as most people require and the choice then is stainless steel enclosure and faucet FW1000 or plastic enclosure and chrome faucet MP1K. If for medical or other reasons you require the almost complete removal of fluoride, then an additional cartridge is required as in a FW2000 or MP2K. If you want fluoride filters for GS2 Gravity Water Filters these are now available and fit below the existing candles.
John Adams
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Sorry, these Soya makers are not currently available from us.
GS2 Gravity Water Filter.
FW1000 Water Filter.
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