Description of soy milk, calorie content, useful properties and contraindications for use. Is it possible to prepare a product on your own, in what dishes is it introduced? Interesting facts about the popular drink that almost ousted cow's milk from the market. Still, soy milk is most beneficial for women. Eliminates menstrual pain and symptoms of discomfort during menopause, normalizes the cycle and helps get rid of dizziness. It is very important that the beneficial properties are preserved after heat treatment.
Contraindications and harm of soy milk
Individual tolerance may develop for soy protein, although less frequently than for cow's milk. Nutritionists are still debating whether soy milk can harm the body. Some doctors recommend using it at least 3-4 times a week in pure form and as an ingredient in dishes, while others believe that once a month is enough.
Abuse can provoke:
- Malfunctions of the endocrine system;
- Increased goiter and impaired production of thyroid hormones;
- Deterioration of sperm quality due to prostate dysfunction.
Contraindications to entering the diet:
- The presence of neoplasms that increase with the production of estrogens - that is, women with fibroids and fibroids should not get carried away with soy milk;
- Oncological diseases regardless of the stage;
- Pregnancy and lactation - changes in hormonal levels can have a negative impact on the development of the body.
Babies receive a complex of hormones along with mother's milk, therefore, additional administration to the body can provoke disorders of the nervous system. Increasing the amount of soy in the diet is undesirable due to the high amount of phytic acid. It disrupts the absorption of minerals - zinc, calcium, iron and magnesium, binding them together at the molecular level. Children "artificial", whom soy milk concentrate replaces cow milk, replenish the body's reserve thanks to additional elements in the composition. Adults often neglect the introduction of vitamin-mineral complexes into the body, in connection with which metabolic processes slow down.
Despite the high amount of protein in the composition, soy milk cannot completely replace cow or goat milk. Children get the B12 needed for development from meat, and vegetarians do not have this opportunity.
How to prepare soy milk?
Soy milk can be purchased ready-made or made by yourself. The beans are ground by soaking in cold water for 24 hours. Then the liquid is filtered off, and the softened fruits are interrupted in a blender or crushed, passing through a meat grinder several times.
To get 3% fat content of soy milk at home (this is the most popular cow's milk), they adhere to such proportions between water and soy - 7 to 1.
Water is poured in little by little. Liquid soy porridge is left to infuse for 3-4 hours, adding salt. Quite a little is enough. Then the container is set on low heat so that it boils and boils a little.
After 30 minutes, the pan is removed from the heat, allowed to cool, and then filtered through cheesecloth folded in several layers. Homemade soy milk is ready.
Do not throw out the remaining thick. This is a very useful product - okara. It has a high content of protein compounds and fiber. Okara is added to salads or eaten after drying to enrich the body with vitamins and minerals.
Soy Milk Food and Drink Recipes
This product is widely used in the cuisines of different peoples of the world, but more often it is prepared by chefs in Asia. Soy milk is drunk like ordinary cow's milk, added to coffee and teas, porridge is cooked on it, puddings and desserts are baked, and yoghurts are prepared.
The taste is combined:
- With sweet fruits and berries - guava, figs, apples, bananas, strawberries and strawberries, raspberries;
- Dried fruits of all kinds - dried apricots, prunes, dates and so on;
- With nuts - pine nuts, cashews, pistachios, walnuts.
But if you drink smoked meats, plums, cucumbers - fresh or salty, too sweet desserts with soy milk, your stomach will rumble and diarrhea may appear. The soy drink is not compatible with these products.
Delicious Soy Milk Recipes:
- Pancakes … The dough is kneaded as for ordinary pancakes, only soy milk is used instead of cow's milk. Eggs are not used in this recipe. Mix a glass of milk, 150 g of flour, pour in a tablespoon of sunflower oil, add baking powder, vanilla essence and granulated sugar. Mix well, bake in a hot skillet, turning over as it browns. To make it tastier, you can add crushed nuts to the dough.
- Porridge with quinoa … Boil 2 cups of water in a saucepan, pour 120 g of cereal into it, boil for 15 minutes. During this time, the water usually boils away, but if this does not happen, then it is filtered off, and 400 ml of milk is poured into the pan. Cook over low heat, stirring well, until thickened to obtain a homogeneous structure. It is better not to boil, but to insist. Chinese chefs even use a water bath. Sugar when boiling or later, already on a plate. You can add honey. Garnish with nuts or berries when serving.
- Soy sauce … It is extremely easy to make. All the ingredients are placed in a blender bowl: 100 ml of milk, a little less than a glass of unrefined sunflower oil, a tablespoon of apple cider vinegar and 2 tablespoons of lemon juice, a teaspoon of mustard and half a teaspoon of sea salt. Beat for at least 4-5 minutes. Cool before serving.
- Tofu cheese … Soy milk, 100 ml, is poured into a saucepan and wait until it boils. Stir is a must. The boiling milk is turned off and lemon juice from one large citrus is poured into it. Curdled milk is filtered through cheesecloth folded in several layers, and then squeezed. The more liquid you can drain, the denser the tofu will be. It will be tastier if the resulting mass is mixed with sesame seeds or caraway seeds. Then the future cheese is compacted again, wrapped in cotton cloth and removed under oppression. The cheese will be ready in 6-8 hours.
- Condensed milk from soy milk … Heat a ladle with 2, 5 cups of soy milk, separately, in another container, melt 3 tablespoons of margarine with half a glass of granulated sugar. Combine both ingredients, add 2 tablespoons of flour and one of starch, add a little salt. Beat everything with an immersion blender and return to the fire for 2-3 minutes to thicken the mixture.
Soy milk can be diluted with coffee, cocoa or tea, and made into cocktails.
Soy milk drink recipes:
- Shake with caramel … In a blender, combine 2.5 cups of soy milk, maple syrup to taste, half a teaspoon of vanilla essence and 2-3 bananas. Mix everything thoroughly. Poured into a glass. Preheat a frying pan and mix 2 tablespoons of peanut butter and soy milk, 1 tablespoon of maple syrup on it. When everything is melted, spread beautiful patterns on the surface of the cocktail with hot caramel.
- Berry smoothie … Pieces of one banana, 5-6 frozen Victoria berries, half a glass of frozen berries - blueberries, cranberries and blackberries are placed in a blender bowl, 100 ml of soy milk and 200 ml of green tea are poured. Beat until smooth. Add honey or maple syrup for flavor.
- Alcoholic cocktail "El mahiko" … Beat in a shaker. The ingredients are combined in the following proportion: 25 ml of fresh lime juice and honey-basil syrup, soy milk - 30 ml, white rum - 50 ml. Shake for 2 minutes. First, ice cubes are placed in a glass, and then an alcoholic cocktail. Decorated with mint and basil leaves.
Interesting facts about soy milk
Soy milk powder is also healthy. A white creamy powder is obtained from a liquid by dehydration. The properties of the products are similar, but dry is more often used for baby food and is introduced into the diet of patients to restore the body. This product cannot be called 100% useful, despite the substances that are added to the composition, since preservatives and flavors are also used to improve the taste and extend the shelf life.
The first to make milk from soybeans were the Asians, or rather the Chinese, during the reign of the Han dynasty, 200 BC. At that time, it was only used as a medicine, and it tasted unpleasant and poorly absorbed. The modern drink has a sweetish taste with hints of nuts and is much easier to digest than an animal product.
Until XX century soy milk did not leave the aisles of China, although a century ago they learned how to make a drink with a pleasant taste. And by the end of the twentieth century. a Hong Kong company brought the product to the United States, where it gained popularity.
For comparison: in 1979, soy milk surpassed the famous cola in terms of sales, and by the 21st century, when the idea of losing weight spread around the globe, sales increased several times. Used medicinal and taste qualities. In 2015, sales revenue was $ 366 million.
But still, Hong Kong takes the first place in the consumption of soy milk: according to statistics, each resident drinks more than 17 liters per year. Next, you can put Thailand, Singapore and China, and from other countries - the United States and Canada. Australia and Spain are not much behind them.
Watch a video about the benefits and harms of soy milk:
On the territory of the former CIS, soy milk is considered something unusual, it is included in the diet of those who are losing weight or used to feed babies who cannot tolerate cow protein. The rest of the population hardly buys the product. How can this be explained: distrust of an unfamiliar product, weak marketing policy, or high cost? (The main producers of soy milk are companies in Hong Kong or the United States, so the price is rather big). If you really want to try a new product or lose weight with it, it is more advisable to prepare the drink yourself.
